S&P 500 Biotech Giant Vertex Leads 5 Stocks Showing Strength

Your stocks to watch for the week ahead are Cheniere Energy (LNG), S&P 500 biotech giant Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Cardinal Health (CAH), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Genuine Parts (GPC).

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While the market remains in correction, with analysts and investors wary of an economic downturn, these five stocks are worth adding to watchlists. S&P 500 medical giants Vertex and Cardinal Health have been holding up, as health-care related plays tend to do well in down markets.

Steel Dynamics and Genuine Parts are both coming off strong earnings as both the steel and auto parts industries report optimistic outlooks. Meanwhile, Cheniere Energy saw sales boom in the second quarter as demand in Europe for natural gas continues to grow.

Major indexes have been making rally attempts with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 testing weekly support on Friday. With market uncertainty, investors should be ready for follow-through day breakouts and keep an eye on these stocks.

Cheniere Energy, Cardinal Health and VRTX stock are all on IBD Leaderboard.

Cheniere Energy Stock
LNG shares rose 1.1% to 175.79 during Friday’s market trading. On the week, the stock advanced 3.1%, not from highs, bouncing from its 21-day and 10-week lines earlier in the week.

Cheniere Energy has been consolidating since mid-September, but needs another week to forge a proper base, with a potential 182.72 buy point formed on Aug. 10.

Houston-based Cheniere Energy was IBD Stock Of The Day on Thursday, as the largest U.S. producer of liquefied natural gas eyes strong demand in Europe.

Even though natural gas prices are plunging in the U.S. and Europe, investors still see strong LNG demand for Cheniere and others.

The U.K. government confirmed last week that it is in talks for an LNG purchase agreement with a number of companies, including Cheniere.

In the first half of 2021, less than 40% of Cheniere’s cargoes of LNG landed in Europe. That jumped to more than 70% through this year’s second quarter, even as the company ramped up new export capacity. The urgency of Europe’s natural gas shortage only intensified last month. That is when an explosion disabled the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia that had once supplied 40% of the European Union’s natural gas.

In Q2, sales increased 165% to $8 billion and LNG earned $2.90 per share, up from a net loss of $1.30 per share in Q2 2021. The company will report Q3 earnings Nov. 3, with investors seeing booming profits for the next few quarters.

Cheniere Energy has a Composite Rating of 84. It has a 98 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share price movement with a 1 to 99 score. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 41.

Vertex Stock
VRTX stock jumped 3.4% to 300 on Friday, rebounding from a test of its 50-day moving average. Shares climbed 2.2% for the week. Vertex stock has formed a tight flat base with an official buy point of 306.05, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The stock has remained consistent over recent weeks, while the relative strength line has trended higher. The RS line tracks a stock’s performance vs. the S&P 500 index.

Vertex Q3 earnings are on due Oct. 27. Analysts see EPS edging up 1% to $3.61 per share with sales increasing 16% to $2.2 billion, according to FactSet.

The Boston-based global biotech company dominates the cystic fibrosis treatment market. Vertex also has other products in late-stage clinical development that target sickle cell disease, Type 1 diabetes and certain genetically caused kidney diseases. That includes a gene-editing partnership with Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP).

In early August, Vertex reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised full-year sales targets.

S&P 500 stock Vertex ranks second in the Medical-Biomed/Biotech industry group. VRTX has a 99 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and its EPS Rating is 99.

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Cardinal Health Stock
CAH stock advanced 3.2% to 73.03 Friday, clearing a 71.22 buy point from a shallow cup-with-handle base and hitting a record high. But volume was light on the breakout. CAH stock leapt 7.3% for the week.

Cardinal Health stock’s relative strength line has also been trending up for months.

The cup-with-handle base is part of a base-on-base pattern, forming just above a cup base cleared on Aug. 11.

Cardinal Health, based in Dublin, Ohio, offers a wide assortment of health care services and medical supplies to hospitals, labs, pharmacies and long-term care facilities. The company reports that it serves around 90% of hospitals and 60,000 pharmacies in the U.S.

S&P 500 stock Cardinal Health will report Q1 2023 earnings on Nov. 4. Analysts forecast earnings falling 26% to 96 cents per share. Sales are expected to increase 10% to $48.3 billion, according to FactSet.

Cardinal Health stock ranks first in the Medical-Wholesale Drug/Supplies industry group, ahead of McKesson (MCK), which is also showing positive action. CAH stock has a 94 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 97 Relative Strength Rating and an EPS rating of 73.

Steel Dynamics Stock
STLD shares shot up 8.5% to 92.92 on Friday and soared 19% on the week, coming off a Steel Dynamics earnings beat Wednesday night.

Shares blasted above an 88.72 consolidation buy point Friday after clearing a trendline Thursday. STLD stock is 17% above its 50-day line, definitely extended from that key average.

Steel Dynamics’ latest consolidation could be seen as part of a larger base going back six months.

Steel Dynamics topped Q3 earnings views with EPS rising 10% to $5.46 while revenue grew 11% to $5.65 billion. The steel producer’s outlook is optimistic despite weaker flat rolled steel pricing. STLD reports its order activity and backlogs remain solid.

The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based company is among the largest producers of carbon steel products in the U.S. It engages in metal recycling operations along with steel fabrication and produces myriad steel products.

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STLD stock ranks first in the Steel-Producers industry group. STLD stock has a 96 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 90 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share-price movement that tops at 99. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 98.

Genuine Parts Stock
GPC stock gained 2.8% to 162.35 Friday after the company topped earnings views with its Q3 results on Thursday. For the week GPC advanced 5.1% as the stock held its 50-day line and is in a flat base.

GPC has an official 165.09 flat-base buy point after a three-week rally, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The relative strength line for Genuine Parts stock has rallied sharply to highs over the past several months.

On Thursday, the Atlanta-based auto parts company raised its full-year guidance on growth across its automotive and industrial sales.

Genuine Parts earnings per share advanced 19% to $2.23 and revenue grew 18% to $5.675 billion in Q3. GPC’s full-year guidance is now calling for EPS of $8.05-$8.15, up from $7.80-$7.95. The company now forecasts revenue growth of 15%-16%, up from the earlier 12%-14%.

During the Covid pandemic, supply chain constraints caused a major upheaval in the auto industry, sending prices for new and used cars to record levels. This has made consumers more likely to hang on to their existing vehicles for longer, driving mileage higher and boosting demand for auto replacement parts.

Fellow auto stocks O’Reilly Auto Parts (ORLY) and AutoZone (AZO) have also rallied near buy points amid the struggling market. O’Reilly reports on Oct. 26.

IBD ranks Genuine Parts first in the Retail/Wholesale-Auto Parts industry group. GPC stock has a 96 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and it has an EPS Rating of 89.

2 Ingredients Every Skin Care Cream Should Have and 2 They Shouldn’t!

Do you avoid the skin care cream aisle at the store? Are you stubbornly using the same skin care moisturizer cream from 5 years ago, simply to avoid shopping for a new one? It’s overwhelming to see hundreds of “the best…” skincare products to choose from.How can you possibly determine which are rip-offs and which actually work? How can you be sure that the 3 oz bottle of skin care moisturizer cream (priced at $34.99) isn’t the same stuff as the $3.99 bottle of Jergens at Wal-mart?I’ll make it easy for you. Here is a crash-course in skin care cream ingredients. I’ve listed 2 ingredients your skin is crying out for, and 2 ingredients your skin has nightmares about. With just these 4 tips, you’ll be able to weed out 95% of the thorns and come out with a rose.2 Things Every Skin Care Cream Should HaveBabassuBabassu is a natural wax that softens and soothes your skin. It’s important because it creates a moisture-barrier around your skin that keeps out dirt and grime, but yet allows the skin valuable “breathing” room.It’s a natural product that comes from the oil extracted from the Babassu palm (in the Amazon). Many manufacturers will attempt to save a dime by replacing Babassu with mineral oil (one of the 2 no-no ingredients listed below).Vitamin E (in the form of natural alpha-tocopherol)Vitamin E has a long-proven record of protecting your skin from damaging free radicals found in pollution, UV radiation, poor nutrition, and aging. The best form of Vitamin E found in your skin care cream should be alpha-tocopherol.Most skincare products (including the expensive ones at department stores) use a synthetic form of alpha-tocopherol. Besides being less effective in synthetic form, manufacturers will only put a dash in each skin care cream product (.1% to .2%), making it practically meaningless.It is also a natural preservative that prevents your skin care moisturizing cream from going rancid before you’ve finished using it. Again, many well-known skincare lines will use parabens to preserve their product. Parabens are NOT good for your skin! In fact, they are one of the two ingredients your skin care cream definitely should NOT have in it.2 Things Your Skin Care Cream Should NOT HaveParabens – (look on the label for methyl, propyl, butyl, and ethyl parabens)These chemicals are widely used in expensive (and cheap) skin care creams to give the creams a longer shelf-life. They are super cheap and widely available. Some studies have suggested that they could cause cancer (particularly breast cancer) and affect estrogen levels over long periods of time.Mineral oil – (also written on the label as liquid paraffin, paraffin wax, or petrolatum)This petroleum by-product is super cheap and used by companies to coat the skin and “keep in moisture”. Unfortunately, it also keeps in toxins, encourages acne break outs, and strips away the natural oils that prevent premature aging.Even worse, any mineral oil derivative can be contaminated with the cancer-causing PAH’s. Stay young longer by avoiding products using mineral oil or other petroleum by-products.In evaluating your skin care cream, keep this question in your mind: Could you eat your skin care moisturizer cream? (I’m not suggesting you do, just asking if you could.) If you recoil in horror from putting those ingredients in your mouth, why would you put them on your skin? After all, it’s going to be absorbed and enter your body just as if you had eaten it.Crack open that cabinet and pull out your skin care cream. Flip it over and look at the ingredients label. If your skin care moisturizer cream is missing those two important ingredients, and if it uses mineral oil and Parabens instead, it’s time to find a new skin care cream.You can spread effective skin care cream and eat it too. Synthetics not only damage your skin’s health in the long run, they are simply not as efficient in treating your skin in the long run. (But they are cheaper! This is why so many skincare manufacturers use them!)Babassu and Natural Vitamin E are just the tip of the iceberg. There are a whole host of other ingredients that bring will bring out the best in your skin care cream. Phytessence Wakame, Maracuja, and Crodamol OP come most immediately to mind. You can find further information on these amazing botanical ingredients (and where to find a skin care cream with them inside) at my website linked below.

Using Nutrition to Prevent Or Eliminate Illness

Most everyone knows that before drugs existed, most healings was done with herbs and misguided medical theories. Herbs and food were the medicine of past times. In a natural nutrition book, I recently read this quote, “If doctors don’t learn nutrition, nutritionists will become doctors.” This quote shows the importance of nutrition and the power it has to prevent or eliminate illness.If you are sick or have certain body conditions that are creating pain, then you need to consider learning enough nutrition to help yourself eliminate that sickness or pain. Learning some of the basic principles of nutrition is not hard. It just takes a little effort in finding the right nutritional course that teaches practical ways of applying nutrition.Most illnesses and resulting deaths occur because of inflammation. Inflammation occurs at the beginning of a disease and it is just a slight irritation that you might feel. Many times you just ignore this irritation, which then turns into a slight inflammation. As the inflammation feeds on itself it gets bigger and bigger eventually causing a disease that a doctor can detect. Once a doctor can detect disease, it is well established in your body.Applying practical nutrition stops the beginning of inflammation. This prevents the formation of disease. If the disease is developing or well established, nutrition can reverse these conditions. One area that nutrition can not heal or cure is when inflammation has caused a disease that has permanently destroyed cells and tissue. But the body has amazing recovering abilities so one cannot always say “the body can not recover.”Inflammation comes from excess acid in the body. This acid is created from the foods you eat. Eating certain foods leave an acid residue in your cells that then travel into the liquid surrounding your cells – lymph liquid. In the lymph liquid, this acid can damage cells and tissue and in doing so starts the inflammation process.A good natural anti-inflammatory to use daily is MSM. MSM travels throughout your body reducing inflammation and stopping the beginnings of disease. Using 2000 – 4000 mg of MSM is not uncommon.The acid in the body is neutralized by minerals. The actual way minerals are created by food and used in your body to stop the destructive effects of acids is taught in nutrition. There are 5 major key minerals that you must concentrate on when you consider what foods to eat. These minerals are responsible for the majority of chemical reactions that occur in your body, which provide you with natural health.Learning natural nutrition is now possible online. In the past, it was difficult to learn nutrition without going to school. Finding courses in practical nutrition can be difficult but what you and most people need is to learn is nutrition that you can put into practice. Understanding nutrition can give you the natural methods that you need to deal with anybody discomfort or disease. It gives you the tools and techniques that you need to apply to keep you healthy for a long time. Find the time, find the course, find the health that you need.