It’s been a Jekyll and Hyde stock market since the Club’s last Monthly Meeting. The S & P 500 closed at a record on July 16 — the day before our July livestream — and then started to struggle. Stocks whipsawed after July’s weaker-than-expected jobs report on Aug. 2, sending the market plummeting on recession concerns that Friday. The selling continued on Monday, Aug. 5 — with the S & P 500 and Dow recording their worst sessions in more than two years, and the VIX , Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge and measure for expected market volatility, rising to its highest level in over four years. The market then began to recoup some of its losses shortly thereafter, accelerated by last Thursday’s lower-than-expected weekly jobless claims , which seemingly calmed investors’ nerves about the economy’s health and spurred the S & P 500’s best day since November 2022. On Tuesday, stocks continued their rally after the door further opened for the U.S. central bank to lower interest rates sooner than later after July’s producer price index — a key measure of wholesale inflation — came in lower than expected. We’ve taken advantage of the market’s recent swings, exiting troubled positions in Ford Motor and Wynn Resorts while putting cash into higher-quality names that dipped on the sell-off. The Club bought shares of Wells Fargo , Eaton , and Advanced Micro Devices last week, then picked up more Amazon stock on Monday. ( Watch the CNBC Investing Club’s August Monthly Meeting live, starting at noon ET ) The market’s latest jitters have pushed capital into defensive stocks as investors look for names that can weather an economic downturn. In this case, these are shares of well-established companies in sectors like health care, utilities, and consumer staples. Case in point: Club holdings like Abbott Laboratories , Stanley Black & Decker and Danaher were all top-performing stocks since the July Monthly Meeting. Outliers on the list were Meta Platforms , which was pushed higher by solid corporate earnings results, and Starbucks on a recent leadership shakeup. Here’s a breakdown of what drove gains in these five stocks since the close of the Club’s July 17 meeting through Tuesday’s close. 1. Starbucks: up 25.1% Most of the stock’s double-digit gains over the last month came after Tuesday’s announcement that embattled CEO Laxman Narasimhan is out, and will be replaced by Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol next month. Shares of Starbucks jumped 21%. Niccol’s appointment is welcome news for the Club . He is leaving Chipotle after a highly successful tenure that began in 2018, when the burrito chain hired him from Yum Brands’ Taco Bell. Shares of Chipotle advanced 773% over his tenure. Wall Street agrees with us : Piper Sandler, Baird, and TD Cowen all upgraded the coffee chain’s stock on Tuesday. “We adore Brian Niccol and what he did with Chipotle and he can do it with Starbucks: great throughput, fabulous worker relations and amazing recognition of the brand,” Jim Cramer said. “Laxman had none of that.” Prior to Tuesday’s session, Starbucks stock had been trending higher since July. Another catalyst included The Wall Street Journal report on July 19 that activist investor Elliot Management took a significant stake in the company. 2. Meta Platforms: up 14.1% The Facebook-parent can thank its stellar quarterly earnings report for a great monthly stock performance. The stock was seesawing until the July 31 release , which included beats on the top and bottom lines. Investors celebrated signs that the company’s big generative artificial intelligence bets are paying off. Shares jumped 7% after hours on July 31. We upgraded our rating on the social media company to a buy-equivalent 1 rating. The stock has continued to climb since the release, adding another 2% gain on Tuesday. 3. Stanley Black & Decker: up 8.1% The three biggest catalysts for Stanley Black & Decker’s nice 8.1% climb since the July Monthly Meeting? A solid corporate earnings release, investors’ push into defense stocks, and rising expectations for interest rate cuts. Most notably, management posted an earnings beat and raised its full-year guidance on July 30, sending shares higher in the days that followed. The stock has steady climbed over the period from more capital flowing into defensive stocks, and investors hopes that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in September. Stanley Black & Decker benefits from loosening monetary policy because lower borrowing costs can spur housing market activity, increasing demand for the toolmaker’s offerings. 4. Danaher: up 6.7% Like Stanley Black & Decker, Danaher has climbed on hopes for lower borrowing costs and a push of capital into defensive sectors. Shares received another boost on a July 30 earnings beat when management raised its full-year guidance. The life sciences firm popped 6% after hours on the release. We raised our price target on Danaher to $295 from $280 apiece on the news. 5. Abbott Laboratories: up 3.4% Abbott is also benefitting from the push of capital into defensive sectors like healthcare. Shares took a ding in late July, however, after a jury found that Abbott’s specialized premature infant formula caused an Illinois girl to develop a dangerous disease. The firm was ordered to pay $495 million in punitive damages. Shares started to rebound in early August. We assume it’s because Wall Street finally got some clarity around a serious overhang for the stock. On Aug 7, the Club o ffloaded shares of Abbott and downgraded it to a hold-equivalent 2 rating from a buy-equivalent 1 after the rally. (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.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 24, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
It’s been a Jekyll and Hyde stock market since the Club’s last Monthly Meeting.