Millionaire Blueprint Weekly Review: Behold, the News of the World! Classic rockers Queen put out a great album in 1977 titled, "News of the World.

Transcription

1 Millionaire Blueprint Weekly Review: Behold, the News of the World! Classic rockers Queen put out a great album in 1977 titled, "News of the World." In addition to the ultra-famous cuts, "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions," the album contained a lesser-known song titled, "Spread Your Wings." That also happens to be my favorite cut on the album. Lyrics from that song came to mind this morning when thinking about, well, the wild news of the world this week. The song starts like this: Sammy was low, just watching the show, over and over again Ah yes, watching "the show" this week was indeed enough to get the markets "low." From airstrikes on Syria to a huge jobs disappointment to a Supreme Court confirmation that virtually erased Senate rules, the news of the world this week had the potential to push markets down sharply. Interestingly, though, and perhaps quite tellingly, markets mostly let the news of the world roll off the shoulder. The S&P 500 closed down just 0.3% this week. So, what does this mean for investors going forward? More importantly, how has this wild week of news impacted our current Millionaire Blueprint holdings? Well, first, the pivot away from health care policy toward tax cuts and infrastructure spending has largely been seen as a positive for stocks. And while getting anything done on both of those fronts will be a Herculean task, for now, Wall Street is giving Washington the benefit of the doubt that at least some of the pro-growth Trump agenda can get passed.

2 Judging by today's dismal March jobs print, the economy is going to need all the help it can get. How bad was the jobs data? Well, the Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by just 98,000 in March. That's about half of the job gains in each of the prior two months. That number also fell dismally short of expectations calling for job gains of 175,000 in March. To me, the weaker-than-anticipated job growth is reason for concern, and that is because the market has moved up since the election on the idea that the pro-growth Trump policy agenda would spur actual economic growth. And while sentiment indicators, or "soft," economic data has been strong, the actual, or "hard," economic data has been relatively week -- especially the March employment report. So, with that push-pull of positive sentiment versus dubious hard data, and with markets still mostly focused on policy hope from Washington, we enter April armed with our 10 portfolio buckets. Three of those holdings -- Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of America (BAC) and Vulcan Materials (VMC) -- are holdovers from last month, as all three stand to benefit from renewed policy hopes in Washington. Our seven new holdings also will likely benefit from those hopes, but each of our holdings also is poised to profit on its own from a combination of favorable P/E gap metrics, sector- and company-specific news, and the smart money's taste for good stocks trading at a discount. In other words, the stocks in our portfolio. Here's where we stand performance-wise since our April 4 purchases (Note: In the case of MS, BAC and VMC, the official performance calculation that will occur when the trade is closed will be from our original buy prices on March 2. However, the table below uses the April entry prices to track the month-to-date performance.)

3 1) Morgan Stanley (MS) March entry price: $46.59 April entry price: $42.70 Target: $55.91 Target: $51.24 Floor: $41.93 Floor: $38.43 The diversified financial services firm originates, trades, manages and distributes capital for governments, institutions and individuals. The company has institutional securities, wealth-management and assetmanagement segments, and more than 50,000 employees. (Full disclosure, your Millionaire Blueprint Editor is a former Morgan Stanley associate). 2) Bank of America (BAC) March entry price: $25.52 April entry price: $23.35 Target: $30.62 Target: $28.02 Floor: $22.97 Floor: $21.02 The money center and retail banking giant provides financial services and products throughout the United States, and in selected international markets. It has lending operations in the consumer, small-business, and corporate markets in addition to asset management and investment banking divisions.

4 3) Vulcan Materials (VMC) March entry price: $ April entry price: $ Target: $ Target: $ Floor: $ Floor: $ The company is the largest producer of construction aggregates (crushed stone, sand and gravel) in the United States. Its largest markets include Alabama, California and Florida. In 2016, Vulcan sold 181 million tons of aggregates, 9 million tons of asphalt mix, and 3 million cubic yards of ready-mix. 4) MGM Resorts International (MGM) Entry price: $27.66 Target: $33.19 Floor: $24.89 MGM, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, owns and operates casino resorts. Its offerings include gaming, hotel, convention, dining, entertainment, retail and other resort amenities. The company operates 14 wholly-owned resorts in the United States, the MGM Macau resort and casino in China, as well as develops an integrated casino, hotel and entertainment resort on the Cotai Strip in Macau. 5) Masonite International (DOOR) Entry price: $77.45 Target: $92.94 Floor: $69.70 As its ticker symbol suggests, the company designs and manufactures interior and exterior doors for the residential new construction, residential repair, renovation and remodeling, and the non-residential building construction markets. The company's brands include Masonite, Marshfield, Premdor, Mohawk and National Hickman.

5 6) Tenneco Automotive (TEN) Entry price: $59.84 Target: $71.80 Floor: $53.86 Tenneco produces clean air and ride performance products and systems for light vehicle, commercial truck, off-highway and other vehicle applications. It serves original equipment vehicle manufacturers and the repair and replacement markets, also known as aftermarket. The company offers various vehicle emission control products and systems, including catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters. 7) NCI Building Systems (NCS) Entry price: $16.38 Target: $19.66 Floor: $14.74 NCI Building Systems is an integrated manufacturer and marketer of metal products for the nonresidential construction industry. Its products are used in repair, retrofit and new construction activities in North America. The company operates through three segments: engineered building systems, metal components and metal coil coating. 8) SciClone Pharmaceuticals (SCLN) Entry price: $9.75 Target: $11.70 Floor: $8.78 The specialty pharmaceutical company has a product portfolio of therapies for oncology, infectious diseases and cardiovascular disorders. SCLN also has substantial commercial business in China. Its lead product is Zadaxin, which is used for the treatment of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, and certain cancers, as well as for use as an immune system enhancer.

6 9) TEGNA (TGNA) Entry price: $25.66 Target: $30.79 Floor: $23.09 TEGNA is an international media and marketing solutions company. The company operates 46 television stations that produce local programming, such as news, sports and entertainment. The company also operates auto buying search website Cars.com. 10) Southwest Airlines (LUV) Entry price: $53.70 Target: $64.44 Floor: $48.33 Southwest is the largest domestic carrier in the United States, as measured by the number of originating passengers boarded. The company operates around 700 aircraft consisting of an all-boeing fleet. It specializes in shorthaul flights, using a point-to-point network, offering flights in the United States and several international locations. Finally, our next Weekly Review will be sent Thursday, April 13, as markets are closed in observance of Good Friday. In the name of the best within us, Jim Woods Editor, Millionaire Blueprint / Stock Investor's Blueprint