July 2018 Stock Picks TOP 25 STOCKS July-18 RANK TICKER NAME SECTOR

July 2018 Stock Picks TOP 25 STOCKS July-18 RANK TICKER NAME SECTOR
RANK TICKER NAME SECTOR INDUSTRY 1 NVDA NVIDIA Corporation 10 - Technology Semiconductors 2 FB Facebook Inc Computer Services 3 V Visa Inc 09 - Services Business Services 4 BABA Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Retail (Catalog & Mail Order) 5 PYPL Paypal Holdings Inc 07 - Financial Consumer Financial Services 6 WLK Westlake Chemical Corporation 01 - Basic Materials Chemicals - Plastics and Rubbers 7 AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. 8 HD Home Depot Inc Retail (Home Improvement) 9 COST Costco Wholesale Corporation Retail (Specialty Non-Apparel) 10 AAPL Apple Inc. Communications Equipment 11 DEO Diageo plc (ADR) 05 - Consumer Non-Cyclical Beverages (Alcoholic) 12 ATVI Activision Blizzard, Inc. Software & Programming 13 DHI D. R. Horton Inc 02 - Capital Goods Construction Services 14 GOOGL Alphabet Inc 15 FDX FedEx Corporation 11 - Transportation Air Courier 16 INTC Intel Corporation 17 URI United Rentals, Inc. Rental & Leasing 18 FANG Diamondback Energy Inc 06 - Energy Oil & Gas Operations 19 GD General Dynamics Corporation Aerospace and Defense 20 KEY KeyCorp Regional Banks 21 BAC Bank of America Corp 22 SYK Stryker Corporation 08 - Health Care Medical Equipment & Supplies 23 GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc Investment Services 24 C Citigroup Inc 25 DWDP DowDuPont Inc Chemical Manufacturing As of June 29th, Subject to change.

July 2018 Growth Stock Picks
As of June 29th, Subject to change.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Apple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, and personal computers to consumers, and small and mid-sized businesses; and education, enterprise, and government customers worldwide. The company also sells related software, services, accessories, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. It offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and Mac, a line of desktop and portable personal computers, as well as operating systems comprising iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The company also provides iWork, an integrated productivity suite that helps users create, present, and publish documents, presentations, and spreadsheets; and other application software, such as Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, and FileMaker Pro. In addition, it offers Apple TV that connects to consumers' TV and enables them to access digital content directly for streaming high definition video, playing music and games, and viewing photos; Apple Watch, a personal electronic device; and iPod touch, a flash memory-based digital music and media player. Further, the company sells Apple-branded and third-party accessories, such as headphones, displays, storage devices, Beats products, and other connectivity and computing products and supplies. Additionally, it offers iCloud, a cloud service that stores music, photos, contacts, calendars, mail, documents, and others; AppleCare, which offers support options for its customers; and Apple Pay, a cashless payment service. The company sells and delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, TV App Store, iBooks Store, and Apple Music. It also sells its products through its retail and online stores, and direct sales force, as well as through third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers. Apple Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Apple Inc. (AAPL) POSITIVES: Chances are that Apple's December quarter numbers will be solid, given strong early demand for the iPhone X, reasonably good iPhone 8/8-Plus demand and the momentum seen as of late for various other businesses (iPads, Macs, Apple Watch, services). The December quarter is a seasonally huge one not only for the iPhone, but also the iPad and the Apple Watch. And this time around, demand is expected to get a boost from a couple of recent product launches. For the iPad, it's the September launch of iOS 11, which brought with it a number of multitasking features meant to strengthen the iPad Pro's appeal as a notebook alternative. For the Apple Watch, it's of course the launch of 4G-capable models in September -- reviewers have had mixed feelings about 4G performance and battery life, but generally like the third-gen Watch otherwise. On Jan. 17, Apple said it would pay $38 billion in taxes to repatriate offshore cash, thanks to the recent passage of a tax reform bill that allows offshore funds to be brought home at a 15.5% tax rate. This suggests Apple will be repatriating $245 billion, and keeping $207 billion net of tax payments. Possible concerns: The analyst consensus for March quarter sales has already dropped by $3.2 billion since Jan. 10, and (given all of the negative news flow) it's possible that the "whisper" number is lower still. At $65.71 billion, the current consensus still implies 26% sales growth relative to a depressed March 2017 quarter. But with Apple shares now down about 7% from their Jan. 18 high even as the Nasdaq has surged towards 7,500, some of this is now priced in. As a result, if Apple can avoid confirming worst-case iPhone X fears while showing healthy growth in other areas, the market's reaction to a less-than-stellar report might not be that bad. Source: The Street. January 2018

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Amazon.com, Inc. engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions in North America and internationally. It operates through the North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) segments. The company sells merchandise and content purchased for resale from vendors, as well as those offered by third-party sellers through retail Websites, such as amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.com.mx, amazon.com.au, amazon.com.br, amazon.cn, amazon.fr, amazon.de, amazon.in, amazon.it, amazon.co.jp, amazon.nl, amazon.es, and amazon.co.uk. It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including kindle e-readers, fire tablets, fire TVs, and echo; and provides Kindle Direct Publishing, an online service that allows independent authors and publishers to make their books available in the Kindle Store. In addition, the company offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Websites, as well as their own branded Websites; and programs that allow authors, musicians, filmmakers, app developers, and others to publish and sell content. Further, it provides compute, storage, database, and other AWS services, as well as fulfillment, publishing, digital content subscriptions, advertising, and co-branded credit card agreements services. Additionally, the company offers Amazon Prime, an annual membership program, which provides free shipping of various items; access to unlimited streaming of movies and TV episodes; and other services. Amazon.com, Inc. also generates electricity through its wind farms and solar projects. It serves consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, and content creators. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Source: FinViz.com, September 2017

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) POSITIVES: Amazon dominates North American online retail with an estimated GMV of approximately $180 billion in With more than half of the world's Internet users coming from developing markets, Amazon has sizable international growth opportunities, including Europe, Japan, and India. Kindle products and complementary devices like Fire TV, Dash, Echo, and Alexa represent intriguing customer acquisition and retention tools that capitalize on the shift to digital media while simultaneously promoting Prime memberships and AWS' various capabilities. Amazon is the most disruptive force to emerge in ecommerce in several decades, and with its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods it is poised to further upend traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores. Amazon owns one of the wider economic moats in the consumer sector and is likely to reshape retail, digital media, and enterprise software for years to come. Possible concerns: Amazon's margin expansion trajectory is likely to be uneven at times, given its global logistics and content investments, new sources of competition, and physical store aspirations. International expansion brings unique challenges such as local e-commerce regulations, infrastructure investments, and incumbent competition in some markets. Certain Amazon Web Services products will face competition from well-capitalized peers like Microsoft and Google, potentially exposing it to more aggressive price competition and longer-term margin pressures. Source: Morningstar, September 2017

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI)
Activision Blizzard, Inc. develops and publishes games for video game consoles, personal computers (PC), mobile devices, and online social platforms. The company operates through three segments: Activision Publishing, Inc., Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., and King Digital Entertainment. The company develops, publishes, and sells interactive software products and entertainment content through retail channels or digital downloads; and downloadable content. It also publishes subscription-based massive multiplayer online role-playing games; and strategy and role-playing games. In addition, the company maintains a proprietary online gaming service, Battle.net that facilitates the creation of user generated content, digital distribution, and online social connectivity in its games. Further, it engages in creating original film and television content; and provides warehousing, logistics, and sales distribution services to third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software, as well as manufacturers of interactive entertainment hardware products. The company serves retailers and distributors, including mass-market retailers, consumer electronics stores, discount warehouses, game specialty stores, and consumers through third-party distribution and licensing arrangements in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Activision Blizzard, Inc. was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI)
POSITIVES: Not only did Activision Blizzard see its price rise more than 20%, on its way to a 2017 gain of 75%, but there's also plenty of growth left. Activision is a wildly successful standalone interactive entertainment company, with franchises including Call of Duty, Destiny, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch, among many others. And there are two driving forces behind Activision that could propel it to new heights in the years ahead: e-sports and microtransactions. The driving force that could really turn Activision into a wealth-creating machine for investors will professional competitive gaming. Overwatch has been a huge success in the e-sports megatrend, and Activision owns four games in the top 10 of Twitch's most watched e-sports, according to Morningstar.com. Investors are just beginning to understand the potential of e-sports, which drives incredible engagement and competitive activity for franchise games. It also opens the door for Activision to delve into consumer products, from team jerseys to customized gaming equipment. Activision was an excellent investment in 2017 and has proved it can make engaging and brilliant games. If it can figure out how to optimally monetize microtransactions and increase its exposure to the e-sports trend, there's no way this stock is slowing down. Possible concerns: Microtransactions have been under the microscope thanks to Electronic Arts' Star Wars Battlefront II. EA took a beating over in-game purchases to unlock, or at least unlock more quickly, popular characters. Other games have had similar but less publicized issues, but despite the backlash, microtransactions are likely to be a major part of gaming in the future. Activision will just have to find a way to balance how to monetize them in a way that doesn't upset the gaming community. When it finds that equilibrium, the additional revenue generated will help boost its top and bottom line. Sources: The Motley Fool, February 2018 Morningstar, February 2018

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA)
Alibaba Group Holding Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as an online and mobile commerce company in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Core Commerce, Cloud Computing, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others. It operates Taobao Marketplace, a mobile commerce destination; Tmall, a third-party platform for brands and retailers; Rural Taobao program that enables rural residents and businesses to sell agricultural products to urban consumers; Juhuasuan, a sales and marketing platform for flash sales; Alibaba.com, an online wholesale marketplace; Alitrip, an online travel booking platform; 1688.com, an online wholesale marketplace; and AliExpress, a consumer marketplace. The company also provides pay-for-performance and display marketing services through its Alimama marketing technology platform; and Taobao Ad Network and Exchange, a real-time bidding online marketing exchange in China. In addition, it offers cloud computing services, including elastic computing, database, storage and content delivery network, large scale computing, security, and management and application services, as well as big data analytics and a machine learning platform through its Alibaba Cloud Computing platform; Web hosting and domain name registration services; and payment and escrow services, as well as develops and operates mobile Web browsers. The company provides its solutions primarily for businesses. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has strategic collaborations with Driscoll's and Thai Union/Chicken of the Sea to launch their food products to China. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA)
POSITIVES: Alibaba is the China's biggest e-commerce company. Revenue for the October-December period rose to billion yuan ($13.19 billion), up from 53.2 billion yuan a year earlier. That exceeded the 79.8 billion yuan average estimate of 28 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Alibaba is looking for new areas such as cloud computing, payments and offline retail to maintain rapid growth rates that helped propel its shares to roughly double in value last year, making it one of the world's most valuable companies with a market capitalization of $523 billion. The firm's third-quarter sales are typically strong because of its Singles' Day sales event held on Nov. 11, the world's biggest shopping spree. This year a record $25.4 billion was spent on Alibaba platforms on the day. Cloud computing and offline retail make up a comparatively small fraction of the company's current sales, though Alibaba is betting on these units to become major revenue drivers as the Chinese e-commerce market shows signs of saturation. Possible concerns: Alibaba, and other tech rivals in China such as Tencent Holdings Ltd <0700.HK> and JD.com Inc (JD.O), have also been investing heavily in brick-and-mortar retailers over the last year to extend their shopper base offline. Source: Thomson Reuters, February 2018

Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management, Global Banking, and Global Markets. The Consumer Banking segment offers traditional and money market savings accounts, CDs and IRAs, noninterest- and interest-bearing checking accounts, and investment accounts and products, as well as credit and debit cards, residential mortgages and home equity loans, and direct and indirect loans. This segment provides its products and services through approximately 4,600 financial centers, 15,900 ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile platforms. The Global Wealth & Investment Management segment offers investment management, brokerage, banking, and retirement products, as well as wealth management and customized solutions. The Global Banking segment provides lending products and services, including commercial loans, leases, commitment facilities, trade finance, real estate lending, and asset-based lending; treasury solutions, such as treasury management, foreign exchange, and short-term investing options; working capital management solutions; and debt and equity underwriting and distribution, and merger-related and other advisory services. The Global Markets segment offers market-making, financing, securities clearing, settlement, and custody services, as well as risk management, foreign exchange, fixed-income, and mortgage-related products. Bank of America Corporation was founded in 1874 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
POSITIVES: Bank of America has improved dramatically since the financial crisis. The company has been the most remarkable turnaround story of the big banks. The bank continues to improve, even eight years post-crisis. The bank's profitability -- return on equity and return on assets -- continues to climb and is getting close to the key 10% and 1% industry benchmarks. Thanks to investment in technology and reduction in its branch count, the bank's efficiency continues to get better, and now rivals even the most solid big U.S. banks. And it's worth mentioning that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway recently became the bank's biggest investor. Despite all of the improvement, there's reason to believe that Bank of America's best days are ahead. The bank generally operates at an effective tax rate of around 30%, and this should drop significantly going forward. Additionally, with a massive base of low-cost deposits, the bank stands to benefit from margin expansion as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. Possible concerns: Due to BAC’s heavy reliance on the U.S. retail banking and wealth management, the bank is vulnerable to domestic economic weakness. This contrasts to its other money center peers that have international operations, potentially insulating them from U.S. weakness. Although the U.S. economy is projected to remain strong in coming years, it is still something to be aware of. Source: Motley Fool, February 2018 Seeking Alpha, September 2017

Citigroup Inc. (C) Citigroup Inc., a diversified financial services holding company, provides various financial products and services for consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Citicorp and Citi Holdings. The Citicorp segment offers traditional banking services to retail customers through retail banking, commercial banking, Citi-branded cards, and Citi retail services. It also provides various banking, credit card lending, and investment services through a network of local branches, offices, and electronic delivery systems. In addition, this segment provides wholesale banking products and services, including fixed income and equity sales and trading, foreign exchange, prime brokerage, derivative services, equity and fixed income research, corporate lending, investment banking and advisory services, private banking, cash management, trade finance, and securities services to corporate, institutional, public sector, and high-net-worth clients. As of December 31, 2016, it operated 2,649 branches in 19 countries. The Citi Holdings segment provides consumer loans; and portfolio of securities, loans, and other assets. Citigroup Inc. was founded in 1812 and is based in New York, New York. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Citigroup Inc. (C) POSITIVES: Citigroup has seen solid earnings estimate revision activity over the past month, suggesting analysts are becoming a bit more bullish on the firm’s prospects in both the short and long term. Revenue grew just 1.5% last quarter, but both sales and earnings beat expectations. For 2017, Citigroup now has earnings of $5.33 per share. Analysts expect that figure to swell roughly 20% to $6.37 this year and another 16% to $7.38 in Analysts are forecasting revenue growth of roughly 3.5% for both years. With a new lower tax rate, the bank’s bottom line should continue to swell. As the U.S. and global economies continue to strengthen, Citigroup’s core businesses will only gain strength. While some things can change in a hurry, the positive developments that are underway should continue in a positive direction. Possible concerns: With Citi's large emerging market presence though, it is important to be careful. If credit growth expands too rapidly in these regions, it could lead to an unsustainable bubble, ultimately leaving Citi in a vulnerable position. Moreover, Citi's investment bank continues to underperform expectations, and could be a drag on revenue going forward. Source: Zacks, January 2018 InvestorPlace, January 2018

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)
Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates membership warehouses. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. The company provides dry and packaged foods, and groceries; snack foods, candies, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and cleaning supplies; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, and garden and patio products; meat, bakery, deli, and produces; and apparel and small appliances. It also operates gas stations, pharmacies, optical dispensing centers, food courts, and hearing-aid centers; and engages in the travel business. In addition, the company provides gold star individual and business membership services. As of September 3, 2017, it operated 741 membership warehouses, including 514 warehouses in the United States, Washington, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 97 in Canada, 37 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 13 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 9 in Australia, 2 in Spain, 1 in Iceland, and 1 in France. Further, the company sells its products through online. The company was formerly known as Costco Companies, Inc. Costco Wholesale Corporation was founded in 1976 and is based in Issaquah, Washington. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST)
POSITIVES: Costco delivered a very strong December with same-store sales up 11.5% over last year including a 33.3% gain from e-commerce, an unbelievable number given there seemed to be a general belief that Costco was not keeping up with Amazon.com, Inc. The firm has taken the long-range approach to building its business. The warehouse club often reacts slowly to change, and while that may appear complacent, it's actually measured. Because the chain has a loyal user base that has steadily grown while renewing at a roughly 90% rate, it does not have to react quickly. The company's core customer base liked shopping in its warehouses. They enjoy not just the low prices, but also the ever-changing merchandise, the free samples, the cheap food, and many other things about the company's brick-and-mortar stores. That affinity for the experience offered in Costco warehouses has protected the company from the Retail Apocalypse. It also gave the company time to implement both a digital and a delivery strategy. After pretty much ignoring the internet, the chain began improving its website last year. That included increasing selection, but it most importantly involved the company investing heavily in infrastructure. Costco did not simply throw a bunch of merchandise online; it improved the back end of its digital operation while also making its website more user-friendly and spending heavily on improving its shipping logistics. That investment paid off strongly as the company reported a 43.5% gain in comparable e-commerce sales in Q It then followed that up by reporting that December e-commerce sales, the first month of Q2 2018, rose by 33.3%. That's strong evidence that waiting did not hurt the company when it came to offering its customer base a strong digital product. Possible concerns: Every time another retailer makes a big move, it seems like a number of retail analysts predict that whatever has happened will doom Costco. The reality is that the warehouse club has remained largely apart from the fate of others retailers. Its success won't hinge on what Amazon does with Whole Foods, or whether Wal-Mart keeps lowering prices. Costco doesn't respond like most retailers because it has a different business model. There are no signs that model has any weakness, and while growth will be slow (with 20 to 25 new warehouses planned in 2018), it should stay steady. Source: Motley Fool, January 2018

Diageo plc (ADR)- (DEO)
Diageo plc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, and sells alcoholic beverages worldwide. The company offers a collection of brands across spirits, beer, cider, and wine categories. Its brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan's and Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, C??roc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray, and Guinness. The company also provides adult beverages and non-alcoholic products. Diageo plc was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Diageo plc (ADR)- (DEO)
POSITIVES: Diageo is one of the world's largest distillers, and it derives the lion's share of its revenue from its Scotch portfolio, which represents a quarter of Diageo's $15.9 billion in annual sales. Johnnie Walker is its premier brand, but the distiller also owns Buchanan's, which is the second most popular Scotch in the U.S.; Black & White, Diageo's top seller in Brazil; and J&B, the No. 1 Scotch in Spain. It also owns Windsor, Old Parr, and Lagavulin, each of which holds a leading position in various markets around the world. Sales driven by increased spending on marketing helped Diageo, the world's largest spirits company, to report better-than-expected first-half results. But the British-based maker of Johnnie Walker Scotch and Smirnoff vodka said foreign exchange rates would take a bigger-than-expected gulp out of sales and profits in the full year, due to a strengthening sterling and weak U.S. dollar. Diageo said organic net sales grew 4.2 percent in the six months ended in December, above what analysts said was a 3.7 percent consensus. Earnings per share before one-off items was 67.8 pence, 3.5 percent ahead of expectations, according to Liberum analysts. Like many global packaged goods companies, Diageo has adopted a plan of cost-cutting that has helped make its business more efficient, providing funds to use for generating sales. Possible concerns: Although the beverage sector is not particularly prone to disruption or rapid change, one possible source of disruption is startup brands. With the advent of micro-breweries, plus social media and other forms of viral marketing, new drinks can quickly scale up into significant businesses. Source: Motley Fool, January 2018

D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI) D.R. Horton, Inc. operates as a homebuilding company in East, Midwest, Southeast, South Central, Southwest, and West America. It engages in the acquisition and development of land; and construction and sale of homes in 26 states and 79 markets in the United States under the names of D.R. Horton, America's Builder, Express Homes, Emerald Homes, Freedom Homes, and Pacific Ridge Homes. The company constructs and sells single-family detached homes; and attached homes, such as town homes, duplexes, triplexes, and condominiums. It is also involved in the origination and sale of mortgages; and provision of title insurance policies, and examination and closing services. In addition, through its subsidiary, the company engages in the acquisition, entitlement, development, and sale of residential and mixed-use real estate communities. It primarily serves title insurance agents, homebuyers, and homebuilding customers. D.R. Horton, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Arlington, Texas. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI) POSITIVES: DHI is one of the leading national homebuilders. The company offers a diversified line of homes across various price points through its multi-brand platform. While its Express brand caters to entry-level buyers looking for affordability, its high-end brand, Emerald, targets luxury buyers. Moreover, the company enjoys one of the broadest geographic diversities in the industry. D.R. Horton expects to deliver strong performances on the back of its robust sales trends, solid community count, strong backlog position and well-stocked inventory of land, lots and homes. However, gross margin pressures remain. Possible concerns: D.R. Horton's net income was unavoidably hit by the changes in U.S. tax law. The company took a $108 million charge to reduce its deferred tax assets. Without that charge, earnings per share would have been $0.77. Source: Zacks, January 2018 The Motley Fool, January 2018

DowDuPont Inc. (DWDP) DowDuPont Inc is jointly owned by Dow and DuPont for the purpose of effecting the mergers. The company segmented its operating activities into three reportable business units: Agriculture, Specialty Products, and Material Science. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

DowDuPont Inc. (DWDP) POSITIVES: Dow and DuPont .S. chemicals producer DowDuPont reported a 14 percent rise in net sales for the fourth quarter and beat Wall Street profit estimates as a strong global economy led to robust demand and higher prices for its products. The newly-combined company, formed by the merger of chemical giants Dow Chemical and DuPont four months ago, said its net sales came in at $20.1 billion versus comparable net sales - which the company terms "proforma" sales - of $17.7 billion a year earlier. It also said it planned to move ahead with plans to split the new company into three separate parts, starting with the Materials Science unit by the end of the first quarter of Agriculture and Specialty Products are expected to follow by June 1, 2019. Currently trading at a market value of about $176.9 billion, Dow and DuPont completed the $130 billion mega merger in September. That created the world's largest chemical maker, until the company goes through with a plan to split into three companies. DowDuPont's merger was welcomed by investors as a way to streamline the companies' sprawling operations by combining overlapping businesses. Possible concerns: Merger continues. Sources: Reuters, January 2018

Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG)
Diamondback Energy, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, focuses on the acquisition, development, exploration, and exploitation of onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas. Its activities are primarily focused on the Wolfcamp, Spraberry, Clearfork, Bone Spring, and Cline formations. As of December 31, 2017, the company's net acreage position was approximately 206,660 acres in the Permian Basin; and estimated proved oil and natural gas reserves were 335,352 thousand barrels of crude oil equivalent. It also held working interests in 1,166 gross producing wells, as well as royalty interests in 64 additional wells. In addition, the company, through its subsidiary, Viper Energy Partners LP, owns mineral interests in approximately 247,602 gross acres primarily in Midland County, Texas. Diamondback Energy, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas. Source: FinViz.com, April 2018

Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG)
POSITIVES: Diamondback is a Permian pure-play company with around 207,000 net acres including 188,000 net acres in the Midland and Delaware Basins. This is a substantial amount of high-quality acreage in an areas that have thrived despite the downturn in oil prices during the last few years. This should allow Diamondback to run up to 20 rigs, up from 10 rigs currently. Potential for 30+% production growth from Q to Q while spending within cash flow at current strip. Diamondback also has a very low cost structure. Additionally, Diamondback has quite low interest costs per BOE and its cash G&A costs per BOE are among the lowest in the industry. FANG recently declared that its first-quarter 2018 output level climbed up to thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d), showing a rise of 10% from the fourth-quarter 2017's figure of 92.9 MBoe/d. Of the total production, 74% or 75.6 thousand barrels per day was oil. Notably, the company's subsidiary, Viper Energy Partners LP VNOM has also announced its Jan-Mar production volumes at 14.1 MBoe/d, reflecting a rise of 14% from the last reported quarter. Possible concerns: Diamondback may reach Q production of over 120,000 BOEPD with its proposed drilling program. To maintain this level of production beyond 2018, Diamondback may need a capital expenditure budget of around $1 billion to $1.15 billion. This would result in Diamondback's unhedged oil breakeven point being estimated at around $45 WTI oil, including its current dividend payout. This also is based on 2018 service cost estimates. If oil prices fell to the mid-$40s again, service costs would likely go down a bit, dropping Diamondback's breakeven point to the low $40s for WTI oil. Source: Zacks Equity Research, January 2018

Facebook, Inc. (FB) Facebook, Inc. provides various products to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers, and other surfaces worldwide. Its solutions include Facebook Website and mobile application that enables people to connect, share, discover, and communicate each other on mobile devices and personal computers; Instagram, a mobile application that enables people to take photos or videos, customize them with filter effects, and share them with friends and followers in a photo feed or send them directly to friends; Messenger, a messaging application to communicate with people and businesses across platforms and devices; and WhatsApp Messenger, a mobile messaging application. The company also offers Oculus virtual reality technology and content platform, which allow people to enter an immersive and interactive environment to play games, consume content, and connect with others. As of December 31, 2016, it had approximately 1.23 billion daily active users. Facebook, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Facebook, Inc. (FB) POSITIVES: Facebook reported Q4 revenue of $12.97 billion (up 47% annually, or 44% in constant currency), handily beating a $12.55 billion consensus. GAAP EPS of $1.44 missed a $1.94 consensus, but that was only because of a $2.27 billion one-time hit (not baked into analyst estimates) related to tax reform. Excluding the hit, EPS was at $2.21. Ad revenue rose 48% to $12.78 billion, nearly matching Q3's 49% growth and topping a $12.38 billion consensus. Though ad impression growth slowed to just 4% from Q3's 10% and Q2's 19% -- Facebook has cautioned for a while that impression growth would slow as increases in news feed ad load diminish -- the company's average ad price rose 43%, a much better clip than Q3's 35% and Q2's 24%. The quarter featured extraordinary growth in revenue, active users, and profits, as well as an optimistic outlook for advertising revenue growth. Similar to its growth in monthly active users, daily active users increased nicely, rising 14% year over year to 1.4 billion. On a sequential basis, daily active users were up about 2%. Even as time spent on Facebook decreased during the quarter, the social network still believes revenue growth in 2018 is going to be incredibly strong. Management said it expected its ad revenue growth rates during the year to "decelerate consistent with the trends we have seen over the past year" -- a notable forecast, considering quarterly year-over-year growth rates for advertising revenue decelerated only from 51% in the first quarter of 2017 to 48% in Q4. Possible concerns: Mark Zuckerberg was quoted in the earnings release as saying that Q4 news feed algorithm changes that reduced the number of viral videos shown to users lowered time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours per day. On the call, he added that this decline was equal to 5% of time spent. Source: Reuters, February 2018 TheStreet, February 2018

FedEx Corporation (FDX)
FedEx Corporation provides transportation, e-commerce, and business services worldwide. The company's FedEx Express segment provides various shipping services for the delivery of packages and freight; international trade services specializing in customs brokerage, and ocean and air freight forwarding services; assistance with the customs-trade partnership against terrorism program; and customs clearance services, as well as an information tool that allows customers to track and manage imports. This segment also publishes customs duty and tax information; and offers transportation management and temperature-controlled transportation services. Its TNT Express segment provides international express transportation, small-package ground delivery, and freight transportation services; and business-to-consumer services. The company's FedEx Ground segment provides business and residential money-back guaranteed ground package delivery services; and consolidates and delivers low-weight and less time-sensitive business-to-consumer packages, as well as offers integrated supply chain management solutions. Its FedEx Freight segment offers less-than-truckload freight and freight-shipping services. As of May 31, 2017, this segment operated approximately 66,000 vehicles and trailers from a network of approximately 370 service centers. The company's FedEx Services segment provides sale, marketing, information technology, communication, customer, technical support, billing and collection, and other back-office support services; FedEx Mobile, a suite of solutions to track packages, create shipping labels, view account-specific rate quotes, and access drop-off location information; copying and digital printing, professional finishing, document creation, direct mail, signs and graphics, computer rentals, and ground shipping and time-definite shipping services; and packing services, supplies, and boxes. FedEx Corporation was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

FedEx Corporation (FDX)
POSITIVES: FedEx is bouncing back strongly after a concerning down period. The company beat our consensus earnings estimate by more than 10% in the most recent quarter, and shares have soared more than 20% within the past 12 weeks. That surge has lifted FedEx to these 52-week high levels, but the stock should break higher soon on the back of its improved earnings outlook. Our consensus estimates are soaring thanks to a tidal wave of positive revisions, so investors should be able to capitalize soon. Possible concerns: The late June ransomware attack disrupted TNT Express' operations for weeks. Not surprisingly, many TNT Express customers were extremely frustrated by the fallout from the cyberattack, which caused huge delays and made it impossible to track shipments. In some cases, this caused longtime customers to consider taking their future business elsewhere. As a result, TNT Express shipment volumes still haven't recovered to pre-crisis levels. Source: Zacks, January 2018

General Dynamics Corporation (GD)
General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four business groups: Aerospace; Combat Systems; Information Systems and Technology; and Marine Systems. The Aerospace group designs, develops, manufactures, and outfits business-jet aircraft; provides aircraft services, such as maintenance, repair, aircraft management, charter, fixed-base operational, and staffing services; and performs aircraft completion services for other original equipment manufacturers. The Combat Systems group is involved in the design, development, production, modernization, and sustainment of combat vehicles, weapons systems, and munitions. This group offers wheeled combat and tactical vehicles; main battle tanks and tracked combat vehicles; armaments; and maintenance and logistics support and sustainment services. The Information Systems and Technology group provides technologies, products, and services that support a range of military, federal/civilian, state, local, and commercial customers. This group offers information technology solutions and mission support services; communication, command-and-control, and computer mission systems; and imagery, signals, and multi-intelligence systems for customers in the defense sector, intelligence and homeland security communities, and the United States allies. The Marine Systems group designs, constructs, and repairs surface ships and submarines for the United States Navy and Jones Act ships for commercial customers. This group offers nuclear-powered surface combatants, auxiliary and combat-logistics ships, and commercial product carriers and containerships; and provides design and engineering support services, as well as maintenance, modernization, and lifecycle support services. General Dynamics Corporation was founded in 1899 and is based in Falls Church, Virginia. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

General Dynamics Corporation (GD)
POSITIVES: General Dynamics enjoys a dominant position as a Navy contractor. This is because it is one of the only two contractors in the world equipped to build nuclear-powered submarines. The company is a prime contractor for the development of Virginia-class submarines (another class of nuclear-powered submarine). General Dynamics enjoys a dominant position as a Navy contractor. This is because it is one of the only two contractors in the world equipped to build nuclear-powered submarines. The company is a prime contractor for the development of Virginia-class submarines (another class of nuclear-powered submarine). The growing cross-border tension due to North Korea’s continuous nuclear tests, along with radical terrorism has boosted the defense sector in the recent times. Recently, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee approved fiscal 2018 defense policy bill. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018, worth $700 billion, includes $25 billion to boost Navy shipbuilding. Notably, the bill is expected to boost revenue growth for General Dynamics, which is one of the prime shipbuilders in the United States. The conflict with North Korea is likely to be an ongoing concern. General Dynamics is likely to thrive in this fear environment. Possible concerns: If the current situation with North Korea cools off, the demand for defense products could be reduced. However, it is possible that North Korea would be hurt by sanctions over time and stop testing missiles as a result. If this happened, the U.S. might consider reducing the defense budget. Source: Zacks Equity Research, September 2017

Google Inc. (GOOGL) Alphabet Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides online advertising services in the United States, the United Kingdom, and rest of the world. The company offers performance and brand advertising services. It operates through Google and Other Bets segments. The Google segment includes principal Internet products, such as Search, Ads, Commerce, Maps, YouTube, Google Cloud, Android, Chrome, and Google Play, as well as technical infrastructure and newer efforts, including Virtual Reality. This segment also sells digital contents, apps and cloud offerings, and hardware products. The Other Bets segment includes businesses, such as Access, Calico, CapitalG, GV, Nest, Verily, Waymo, X, and Google Fiber. Alphabet Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Source: FinViz.com January 2018

Google Inc. (GOOGL) POSITIVES: Google's paid clicks, defined as revenue-producing ad clicks and views, rose 47% annually in Q3, with 55% growth registered on Google's sites and apps. Mobile search -- boosted by Google Shopping ads and larger text ads -- and YouTube have been the main growth drivers. Thanks to those growth drivers, as well as Google's continued ad targeting improvements and the popularity of Google Shopping ads among online retailers during the holiday season, strong paid click growth is also expected in Q4. The “Google Other” reporting segment covers sales of Google-branded hardware, Google Play transaction cuts, cloud app and service revenue, YouTube's subscription services and any other non-advertising Google revenue stream. Its revenue rose 40% in Q3 to $4.3 billion; the consensus for Q4 is for revenue to rise 35% to $4.6 billion.It wouldn't be shocking to see Google meaningfully top that consensus. Though not a blockbuster, it looks like the Pixel 2 XL (launched in October) had a solid debut, and Google also sold quite a few Home Mini speakers during the quarter. And revenue for both Google Play and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) have been growing at healthy clips. Possible concerns: Google has talked about being more disciplined with its investments in the Other Bets segments, which covers Waymo, Google Fiber, Nest and a slew of other businesses, the segment continues bleeding red ink. In Q3, it had an operating loss of $812 million (improved just slightly from Q3 2016's $861 million) on $302 million in revenue (up 53%). Source: The Street, January 2018

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. operates as an investment banking, securities, and investment management company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Investment Banking, Institutional Client Services, Investing & Lending, and Investment Management. The Investment Banking segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, spin-offs, and risk management; and underwriting services, such as debt and equity underwriting of public offerings and private placements of various securities and other financial instruments, as well as derivative transactions with public and private sector clients. The Institutional Client Services segment is involved in client execution activities related to making markets in cash and derivative instruments for interest rate products, credit products, mortgages, currencies, commodities, and equities; and provision of securities services comprising financing, securities lending, and other prime brokerage services, as well as markets in and clears client transactions on primary stock, options, and futures exchanges. The Investing & Lending segment invests in and originates longer-term loans to provide financing to clients; and makes investments in debt securities and loans, public and private equity securities, and infrastructure and real estate entities, as well as provides unsecured loans to individuals through its online platform. The Investment Management segment offers investment management products and services; and wealth advisory services consisting of portfolio management and financial counseling, and brokerage and other transaction services. The company serves corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. was founded in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)
POSITIVES: Goldman's earnings and revenue for 2017 beat expectations, and its investment-banking business is doing well. In fact, Goldman has the top market share in announced and completed mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and in equity and common stock offerings. For the year, Goldman's investment-banking revenue grew by an impressive 44%. While it's not a major part of Goldman's business just yet, the young Marcus consumer-banking platform could evolve into a major revenue source. After just over a year, the platform had originated more than $2 billion in loans with its simplified, consumer-focused process, and also took in more than $5 billion in deposits, thanks to offering some of the industry's highest rates on savings accounts. Possible concerns: Trading revenue generally suffers in low-volatility environments, and the current environment is about as low volatility as it gets. If volatility picks up and Goldman's trading revenue jumps, the bank's current share price may seem very cheap. Source: Motley Fook, January 2018

The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) The Home Depot, Inc. operates as a home improvement retailer. It operates The Home Depot stores that sell various building materials, home improvement products, and lawn and garden products, as well as provide installation, home maintenance, and professional service programs to do-it-yourself, do-it-for-me (DIFM), and professional customers. The company offers installation programs that include flooring, cabinets, countertops, water heaters, and sheds; and professional installation in various categories sold through its in-home sales programs, such as roofing, siding, windows, cabinet refacing, furnaces, and central air systems, as well as acts as a contractor to provide installation services to its DIFM customers through third-party installers. It primarily serves home owners; and professional renovators/remodelers, general contractors, handymen, property managers, building service contractors, and specialty tradesmen, such as installers. The company also sells its products through online. It operates through approximately 2,278 stores, including 1,977 in the United States, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam; 182 in Canada; and 119 in Mexico. The Home Depot, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) POSITIVES: Home Depot remains an attractive holding, even as it continues to hit fresh record highs. The home improvement retailer is in the midst of a structurally attractive economy for home buying, which should continue to drive fundamental performance. In addition, the company's valuation multiple is attractively priced relative to historical readings. Moreover, management is committed to its capital allocation plan, returning a healthy amount of cash flow to shareholders. With the number of tailwinds currently behind Home Depot, it is likely its stock price continues higher over coming years after breaking out to new highs this week. Within the home retail sector, Home Depot has shown to be the top player, growing both revenue and margins. In its most recent quarter, Home Depot saw comparable-store sales accelerate to 6.3% pace, up from 5.5% in the prior quarter. Management now states that Home Depot is on track to expand comps by 5.5% in 2017, ensuring another year of market share gains against rival Lowe's, which is expected to expand its comps by less than 4% over the next year. Moreover, Home Depot's operating margin is rising towards 15% of sales, a record high, compared to Lowe's, who recently reduced its profitability outlook and is closer to a 10% margin. Home Depot's management projects it should pass the $100 billion of annual sales mark in fiscal 2018, while also exceeding 15% operating margins. Home Depot is worth owning on its fundamentals before the tragic storms of the last month. Their earnings growth, financial stability,and healthy dividend would be attractive to most investors. That financial strength is likely to get an immediate and longer-term boost as a result of these tragic storms, and the rebuilding that will follow. Possible concerns: Over 25% of US stores are in states and provinces affected by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. And when this turn is made, the company best positioned to provide the needed tools and supplies is Home Depot. Dow component Home Depot is the largest big box home improvement store in the United States. Due to this situation, there are no strong immediate concerns for the firm at the moment. Source: Seeking Alpha, September 2017

KeyCorp (KEY) KeyCorp operates as the holding company for KeyBank National Association that provides various retail and commercial banking services in the United States. The company's Key Community Bank segment offers various deposit and investment products, personal finance services, residential mortgages, home equity loans, credit cards, and installment loans, as well as personal property and casualty insurance, such as home, auto, renters, watercraft, and umbrella insurance for individuals. It also purchases retail auto sales contracts through a network of auto dealership; offers financial, estate and retirement planning, asset management, and trust services, as well as portfolio management, life insurance, charitable giving, and related services for high-net-worth clients. In addition, this segment provides deposits, investment and credit products, and business advisory services to small businesses; and commercial lending, cash management, equipment leasing, investment, and commercial property and casualty insurance products, as well as employee benefit programs, succession planning, capital market access, derivatives, and foreign exchange services to mid-sized businesses. Its Key Corporate Bank segment offers a suite of banking and capital market products, such as syndicated finance, debt and equity capital market products, commercial payments, equipment finance, commercial mortgage banking, derivatives, foreign exchange, financial advisory, and public finance, as well as commercial mortgage loans for middle market clients comprising consumer, energy, healthcare, industrial, public, real estate, and technology sectors. As of December 31, 2017, the company offered its products and services through 1,197 retail banking branches and 1,572 automated teller machines in 15 states, as well as additional offices, online and mobile banking capabilities, and a telephone banking call center. KeyCorp was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Source: FinViz.com, March 2018

KeyCorp (KEY) POSITIVES: The operating environment for the U.S. banks, especially the regional banks, has greatly improved over the last two-plus years. Specifically, rising interest rates and business-friendly regulatory changes have created an environment that should lead to improving fundamentals for the regional banks for many years to come. KeyCorp recently reported a ~7% YoY increase in net interest income, excluding purchase accounting accretion ("PAA") for Q And more importantly, management mentioned during the Q conference call that KeyCorp has the opportunity to greatly benefit from the additional interest rate hikes that are widely expected to occur over the next months. The regulatory environment for the U.S. banks is becoming more favorable on what seems like an almost daily basis. In addition, the Senate recently passed a bill that would increase the asset level for the systemically important financial institution, or SIFI, designation from $50B to $250B. This bill would prevent KeyCorp from needing to comply with some of the burdensome rules/regulations that were put into place after the Financial Crisis. Simply put, KeyCorp is a well-managed bank that is properly positioned to benefit from several long-term catalysts: (1) Rising rates, (2) positive changes to the regulatory environment, and (3) cost/revenue synergies from the First Niagara assets. Possible concerns: The banking industry has promising prospects in 2018, but a significant downturn in the economy would negatively impact KeyCorp's business. Integration risk is another important factor that investors should consider for KeyCorp. Management has talked up the First Niagara acquisition so far, and analysts tend to agree with its assessment of the deal up until this point in time, but there is no guarantee that the acquired assets will be a strategic fit for KeyCorp through 2019 and beyond. Source: Seeking Alpha, March 2018

Intel Corporation (INTC)
Intel Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells computer, networking, and communications platforms worldwide. The company operates through Client Computing Group, Data Center Group, Internet of Things Group, Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group, Intel Security Group, Programmable Solutions Group, and All Other segments. Its platforms are used in notebooks, 2 in 1 systems, desktops, servers, tablets, smartphones, wireless and wired connectivity products, and mobile communication components; enterprise, cloud, and communication infrastructure; and retail, transportation, industrial, video, buildings, and other market segments. The company offers microprocessors that processes system data and controls other devices in the system; chipsets, which send data between the microprocessor and input, display, and storage devices, such as keyboard, mouse, monitor, hard drive or solid-state drive, and optical disc drives; and system-on-chip and multichip packaging products that integrate its central processing units with other system components onto a single chip. It also offers NAND flash memory products primarily used in solid-state drives; security software products that secure computers, mobile devices, and networks; programmable semiconductors and related products for communications, data center, industrial, military, and automotive market segments. In addition, the company develops computer vision and machine learning-based sensing products, mapping and driving policy technology solutions for advanced driver assistance systems, and autonomous driving technologies. It serves original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, cloud and communications service providers, and industrial, communications, and automotive equipment manufacturers. The company was founded in 1968 and is based in Santa Clara, California. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Intel Corporation (INTC)
POSITIVES: Intel is the leader in computer microprocessors with roughly 80% of market share. However, throughout the years INTC has become a lot more than a PC chip maker. The revenue streams are gradually shifting from its original PC chip toward a more integrated and added value segment in the cloud business. The company is about to complete one of the most impressive transformations of a business model: 45% of its revenue coming from data instead of PC. Intel is currently enjoying the best of both worlds. On one side, it benefits from a strong and stable business generating tons of cash flow. On the other, it has found a growth vector that will lead to a decade of growth. The company has one of the strongest balance sheets in corporate America during late With $40 billion in current assets like cash, inventory and receivables plus $10 billion in long-term investments, Intel has a super-conservative asset setup vs. $52.5 billion in total liabilities. As of the early July earnings period statement, Intel’s net “tangible” book value of $46 billion is quite positive in a U.S. equity universe full of blue-chips with record negative tangible shareholder worth. Including sharply improving momentum, well above normal balance sheet safety, a high dividend yield, positive relative valuations against other blue-chip stocks, and decent business growth prospects, Intel appears to be a top buy idea in November. The company shows a strong business model with an interesting growth perspective. For once, the company could get out of that value box and unlock its full potential. Possible concerns: Intel ran into its share of problems over the past few years. First, it operates in a mature (slowly dying) market. While INTC is in a middle of a breakthrough, it’s not the only fighter in this arena. At the moment, everybody gets a piece of the cake, but the Internet of Things will have its limits to fuel multiple companies. The company may find itself in a price war to gain or keep its market share. Source: Seeking Alpha, October 2017

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)
NVIDIA Corporation operates as a visual computing company worldwide. It operates in two segments, GPU and Tegra Processor. The GPU segment offers processors, which include GeForce for PC gaming; GeForce NOW for cloud-based game-streaming service; Quadro for design professionals working in computer-aided design, video editing, special effects, and other creative applications; Tesla for deep learning, accelerated computing, and general purpose computing; and GRID for cloud-based visual computing users. The Tegra Processor segment provides processors that integrate a computer onto a single chip under the Tegra brand name; DRIVE automotive computers, which offer self-driving capabilities; and tablet and portable devices for mobile gaming and TV streaming under the SHIELD name. The company's products are used in gaming, professional visualization, datacenter, and automotive markets. It sells its products primarily to original equipment manufacturers, original device manufacturers, system builders, motherboard manufacturers, add-in board manufacturers, and retailers/distributors. NVIDIA Corporation was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)
POSITIVES: Nvidia continues to deliver strong results, and as it updates the market in approximately one week’s time, of its Q results. Gaming is NVIDIA's largest segment right now, but the company's biggest growth opportunity is in the data center. This has been a market where NVIDIA has consistently posted more than 100% year-over-year growth for several quarters in a row. The graphics specialist started shipping its new Volta GPUs for the data center last quarter, and it's in full production mode for the third quarter. Nvidia’s datacenter segment has been delivering strong growth as its Q results showed that this segment was up a phenomenal 175% year over year. While its datacenter revenue comprises of less than 20% of its consolidated revenue, this type of growth could soon reach a third of Nvidia's overall revenue. Moving on, gaming also continues to provide Nvidia with strong industry tailwinds. Nvidia's Pascal-based GPUs are leading the gaming revolution. Nvidia's business model is an envious one too many operators in this highly competitive sector. The case in point being that Nvidia provides the platform which gamers crave in the most demanding and rewarding gaming experiences. This strong environment allowed Nvidia to deliver extraordinary results, with its Q being up 52% year over year. This level of growth is welcome anytime, but particularly welcome when this level of aggressive growth comes from Nvidia’s core business, which accounts for just over 50% of Nvidia's consolidated revenue as of Q Furthermore, Nvidia's financials are a truly remarkable money making machine. Not only does it have a 20% normalized free cash flow margin (which I use as cash proxy in place of ROIC), it also generates a nicely stable and largely predictable amount of free cash flow. Nvidia has delivered positive and growing EPS and free cash flow numbers over time. Possible concerns: Nvidia's shares are so egregiously overpriced relative to its past performance. For example, while Nvidia's revenue has arguably been steadily growing with a CAGR of 12% over the past years, investors are currently willing to pay 15.5 times its current revenue. This is 5 times more than in the past 5 years on average. Source: Seeking Alpha, October 2017 The Motley Fool, October 2017

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL)
PayPal Holdings, Inc. operates as a technology platform company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of consumers and merchants worldwide. It enables businesses of various sizes to accept payments from merchant Websites, mobile devices, and applications, as well as at offline retail locations through a range of payment solutions, including PayPal, PayPal Credit, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, and Paydiant products. The company's platform allows consumers to shop by sending payments, withdraw funds to their bank accounts, and hold balances in their PayPal accounts in various currencies. PayPal Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. Source: FinViz.com, Janury 2018

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL)
POSITIVES: PayPal’s growth has been phenomenal in the last few years as the company continues to notch up 20% growth quarter after quarter. What makes PayPal’s growth phenomenal is that, despite being a new entrant to the payments processing industry and being pitted against formidable and well-established players, PayPal did a lot better than Visa (V) in terms of revenue increase over the last five years. Between 2012 and 2016, PayPal added $5,180 million to its top line, compared to Visa’s $4,661 million and MasterCard’s (MA) $3,385 million. One of the firm’s key metrics for growth is PayPal’s merchant services. By the end of the first quarter of 2016, PayPal had 14 million merchant accounts, which grew to 17 million by the end of the recently concluded second quarter of The three million additions in merchant accounts has resulted in a nearly $25 billion increase total payment volume. The metric also shows that merchants have been increasing their engagement with PayPal. It could be due to several factors, such as increased trust, PayPal continually adding more services and more customers, and so on. The combination of merchant accounts, ably supported by cross-border trade, is a wide moat that will be extremely hard for its competitors to break. Its customers who are already using the PayPal platform are not going to switch services that easily unless the competitor’s offering brings some tangible additional benefits. The growth of e-commerce already has shrunk global markets, and it will continue to connect merchants and customers all over the world. PayPal has made it extremely easy for merchants and customers to conduct their trade in a transparent manner, and the company has earned their trust. It’s a self-feeding cycle that PayPal has been constructing over the past several years, and that’s going to fuel the company’s growth over the next decade at least. With such a long growth runway and a robust ecosystem of products to keep customers and merchants coming in and coming back, this is one of the better investment opportunities in the payments industry. Possible concerns: One possible concern is the large concentration of business with eBay. Also, there might be a pullback due to Apple’s in-message payment recently announced. Source: Morningstar, September 2017

Stryker Corporation (SYK)
Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through three segments: Orthopaedics, MedSurg, and Neurotechnology and Spine. The Orthopaedics segment provides implants for use in hip and knee joint replacements, and trauma and extremities surgeries. The MedSurg segment offers surgical equipment and surgical navigation systems, endoscopic and communications systems, patient handling, emergency medical equipment and intensive care disposable products, reprocessed and remanufactured medical devices, and other medical devices for use in various medical specialties. The Neurotechnology and Spine segment provides neurotechnology products that include products used for minimally invasive endovascular techniques; products for brain and open skull based surgical procedures; orthobiologic and biosurgery products, such as synthetic bone grafts and vertebral augmentation products; and minimally invasive products for the treatment of acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. It also provides spinal implant products comprising cervical, thoracolumbar, and interbody systems for use in spinal injury, deformity, and degenerative therapies. The company sells its products to doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities through company-owned sales subsidiaries and branches, as well as third-party dealers and distributors in approximately 85 countries. Stryker Corporation was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Source: FinViz.com, February 2018

Stryker Corporation (SYK)
POSITIVES: The company has provided 10 uninterrupted years of revenue growth. Stryker markets to three healthcare areas: orthopedics, surgical equipment and supplies, and brain and spine surgery based on advanced technology. In mid-November 2016, the stock started an upward march, and it remained in an uptrend through the end of 2017, eventually reaching an all-time high high of $170 in late January 2018 before moving downward with the rest of the market. The stock's 50-day moving average remains well above its 200-day moving average, which is a bullish indicator. The company has been enhancing its growth potential via acquisitions, and in September 2017, Stryker acquired imaging technology firm NOVADAQ Technologies Inc. Possible concerns: The healthcare industry is watching the Trump presidency closely. President Trump's promise to repeal and replace Obamacare hit repeated stumbling blocks in Congress. Despite the uncertainty surrounding these efforts to overhaul the nation's healthcare system, Stryker has risen dramatically throughout 2017. Source: Investopedia, February 2018

United Rentals, Inc. (URI)
United Rentals, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals; and Trench, Power, and Pump. The General Rentals segment engages in the rental of general construction and industrial equipment, such as backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom lifts and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools. This segment serves construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, and homeowners. The Trench, Power, and Pump segment is involved in the rental of specialty construction products, including trench safety equipment, such as trench shields, aluminum hydraulic shoring systems, slide rails, crossing plates, construction lasers, and line testing equipment for underground work; power and HVAC equipment consisting of portable diesel generators, electrical distribution equipment, and temperature control equipment; and pumps primarily used by energy and petrochemical customers. It serves construction companies involved in infrastructure projects, municipalities, and industrial companies. The company also sells new equipment, such as aerial lifts, reach forklifts, telehandlers, compressors, and generators; contractor supplies, including construction consumables, tools, small equipment, and safety supplies; and parts for equipment that are owned by the company's customers, as well as provides repair and maintenance services. It sells its used equipment through its sales force, brokers, and Website, as well as at auctions and directly to manufacturers. As of January 1, 2018, the company operated 997 rental locations in the United States and Canada. United Rentals, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

United Rentals, Inc. (URI)
POSITIVES: United Rentals was one of the beneficiaries of the so-called Trump Trade, as investors bet that it would benefit from increased infrastructure spending. It gained 88% from a low of $70.92 on Nov.3 to a high of $ on March 1, but had dropped 20% through last Friday's close. But with construction needed to repair the damage from Harvey, United Rentals could see an uptick in demand for its products. Last month, United Rentals reported 8.5% higher earnings per share for its second quarter, backed by a 13.5% year-over-year jump in rental revenue. Encouraged by strong ongoing demand for equipment, management upgraded full-year revenue guidance to $6.25 billion-$6.4 billion, representing nearly 10% upside at the midpoint from last year's revenue level. Furthermore, management expects to generate strong free cash flow, to the tune of $825 million-$925 million, this year. Between its strong operational standing and a potential uptick in infrastructure spending in the U.S. in the wake of Trump's signing an executive order to expedite infrastructure-project approvals, United Rentals' stock appears to have solid upside potential. More so because at a trailing P/E of 16, United Rentals is trading at a significant discount to its five-year metric, as well as the industry average. Possible concerns: The stock has been struggling to maintain momentum, having lost nearly 14% of its value in the past six months. But if United Rentals' recent bumper quarterly numbers are anything to go by, there's every chance the stock could whip up solid returns going forward. Sources: Barron’s, August 2017 The Motley Fool, August 2017

U.S. Concrete, Inc. (USCR) U.S. Concrete, Inc. produces and sells ready-mixed concrete, aggregates, and concrete-related products and services for the construction industry in the United States. It operates through two segments, Ready-Mixed Concrete and Aggregate Products. The Ready-Mixed Concrete segment engages in the formulation, preparation, and delivery of ready-mixed concrete to customers' job sites; and the provision of various services that include the formulation of mixtures for specific design uses, on-site and lab-based product quality control, and customized delivery programs. The Aggregate Products segment offers crushed stone, sand, and gravel for use in commercial, industrial, and public works projects. The company also engages in the operation of building materials stores; provision of concrete blocks, lime slurry, and Aridus rapid-drying concrete technology; sale of brokered products; hauling and recycled aggregates operation activities; and operation of aggregates distribution terminals, as well as transfer trucks for transporting cement and aggregates. It primarily serves concrete sub-contractors, general contractors, governmental agencies, property owners and developers, architects, engineers, and home builders. As of December 31, 2016, the company operated a fleet of approximately 1,540 owned and leased drum mixer trucks; 125 owned volumetric mixer trucks; and approximately 1,440 other rolling stock and vehicles. U.S. Concrete, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Euless, Texas. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

U.S. Concrete, Inc. (USCR) POSITIVES: US Concrete focuses operations in four major markets: (1) New York/New Jersey/D.C., (2) Northern California, (3) Northern Texas, and (4) Western/Southern Texas. In fact, it owns a top 3 position in each market. The urban-heavy strategy has some obvious advantages. Demand is higher, resulting in higher volumes of cement sold. Customer density is off the charts, allowing the company to concentrate manufacturing and logistics assets in a small footprint. And selling prices are toward the premium end of the industry range. All three combined result in baked-in growth, ample opportunities for expansion, and higher margins than industry peers. The last point is worth hammering home. Although the urban strategy has historically helped US Concrete enjoy selling prices per cubic yard higher than the industry average, the gap grew to comical levels in The company achieved $ per cubic yard sold by the end of the year, while the industry average stood at just $107 per cubic yard. The rising trend has continued each quarter this year -- and in 26 consecutive year-over-year quarterly comparison periods -- weighing in at $ per cubic yard at the end of the third quarter of 2017. Possible concerns: Roughly 95% of U.S. Concrete’s revenue is concentrated in just three markets, increasing the potential impact of local market issues impacting company-wide profits. Source: the Motley Fool, December 2017

Visa Inc. (V) Visa Inc. operates as a payments technology company worldwide. The company facilitates commerce through the transfer of value and information among consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, strategic partners, and government entities. It operates VisaNet, a processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions; and offers fraud protection for account holders and assured payment for merchants. The company also offers gateway services for merchants to accept, process, and reconcile payments; manage fraud; and safeguard payment security online, as well as processing services for participating issuers of visa debit, prepaid, and ATM payment products. In addition, it provides digital products, including Visa Checkout that offers consumers an expedited, and secure payment experience for online transactions; and Visa Direct, a push payment product platform, that allows businesses, governments, and consumers to use the Visa network to transfer funds from an originating account to another via a debit, prepaid, or credit card number, as well as Visa token service that replaces the card account numbers from the transaction with a token. Further the company offers corporate (travel) and purchasing card products, as well as value-added services. It provides its services under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink, V PAY, and PLUS brands. Visa Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Visa Inc. (V) POSITIVES: Visa operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network, with more than 2.3 billion Visa-branded credit and debit cards in circulation globally. Visa witnessed a revenue CAGR of 12.7% from Analysts believe that the company will retain its revenue momentum in the fiscal first quarter on the back of its strong market position and attractive core business that continues to be driven by new deals, renewed agreements, accretive acquisitions, increasing spending via cards, shift to digital form of payments and expansion of service offerings. The company expects annual net revenue growth of high single digits on a nominal dollar basis for fiscal The company resolved approximately 75% of contract conversions by the end of fiscal 2017, and the remainder will be done primarily in the first half of fiscal As a result, client incentives in the first half of 2018 will be significantly higher than fiscal Thus the quarter should enclose higher client incentives. Possible concerns: Visa does have an average annual P/E Ratio of 25 over the life of the company. That is high when compared to others. Source: Zacks January 2018

Westlake Chemical Corporation (WLK)
Westlake Chemical Corporation manufactures and markets basic chemicals, vinyls, polymers, and building products. It operates through two segments, Olefins and Vinyls. The Olefins segment offers ethylene, polyethylene, styrene monomer, and various ethylene co-products, as well as sells propylene, crude butadiene, pyrolysis gasoline, and hydrogen. The Vinyls segment provides specialty and commodity PVC, VCM, EDC, chlorine, caustic soda, chlorinated derivative, and ethylene products. This segment also manufactures and sells products fabricated from PVC, including pipe, fittings, profiles, trims, mouldings, fence and decking products, window and door components, and film and sheet products. The company's products are used in various consumer and industrial markets, including flexible and rigid packaging, automotive products, coatings, and residential and commercial construction, as well as other durable and non-durable goods. Westlake Chemical Corporation also offers its products to a range of customers, including chemical processors, plastics fabricators, small construction contractors, municipalities, and supply warehouses primarily in North America and Europe. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Westlake Chemical Corporation is a subsidiary of TTWF LP. Source: FinViz.com, January 2018

Westlake Chemical Corporation (WLK)
POSITIVES: The company gained from significant contribution of Axiall acquisition, improved demand and increased selling prices for major products in the quarter. The company gained from significant contribution of Axiall acquisition, improved demand and increased selling prices for major products in the quarter. Westlake Chemical, in its third-quarter call, said that it benefited from increased demand for all major products in both Vinyls and Olefins segments along with higher prices in the Vinyls segment. The company sees increased ethylene availability with the start-up of new ethylene plants and completion of capacity expansions. The company believes that the Axiall buyout and continued investments to improve the reliability and operational efficiency of its assets will enable it to fully leverage the improving Vinyls market. It also sees favorable demand trends for all of its major products to continue moving ahead. Westlake Chemical should continue to benefit from the Axiall acquisition. The acquisition has diversified the company’s product portfolio and geographical operations, creating a North American leader in Olefins and Vinyls. The company is on track to realize around $120 million in synergies and cost savings related to the acquisition in 2017. Possible concerns: There might likely be a short-term bump in earnings fade. Source: Zacks Equity Research, January 2018

Lee Johnson Capital Management uses research and investment information from sources that it deems reliable. This information is not a recommendation to buy or sell, but for illustrative purposes. Please consult your advisor before investing in these or like investments, as not all investments are suitable. Each investor has different goals and objectives.

LJCM uses our proprietary screening to determine what we consider, the Top 25
Growth Stocks to own in our All In Growth Model. Within this model LJCM will purchase a 4% position of each stock. These stocks are evaluated on a weekly basis and due to market conditions LJCM may make adjustments to the stock percentage and holding positions through out the month. Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Lee Johnson Capital Management, LLC), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this newsletter will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Please remember to contact Lee Johnson Capital Management, LLC, in writing, if there are any changes in your personal/financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our previous recommendations and/or services. A copy of the Lee Johnson Capital Management, LLC’s current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request.

July 2018 Stock Picks TOP 25 STOCKS July-18 RANK TICKER NAME SECTOR

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July 2018 Stock Picks TOP 25 STOCKS July-18 RANK TICKER NAME SECTOR

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