This year has, so far, been something of a Jekyll and Hyde market for equities. January’s strength was a welcome reprieve from the brutality that was 2022. February’s stumble has reminded us that sticky inflation remains a challenge for both the broader economy and stocks. With that in mind, we sifted through our portfolio to find names with a mix of durable fundamentals and stories strong enough to cut through rekindled inflation fears — and the resulting concerns that the Federal Reserve could need to maintain higher interest rates for longer. It’s a dynamic we discussed just last week, charting the ups and downs for the S & P 500 at pivotal moments in the 2023 inflation arc. The criteria for Tuesday’s screen were simple: Stocks had to outperform the market on a monthly basis in both January and February. The returns each month had to actually be positive. The S & P 500 gained nearly 6.2% in January, while losing 2.6% in February. Here are the seven Club holdings that made the cut (and two honorable mentions), arranged by year-to-date performance. Generative AI boost for Nvidia NVDA 1Y mountain Nvidia (NVDA) 1-year performance Nvidia (NVDA) was the Club’s biggest winner in January, climbing 33.7%, and in February its 18.8% monthly gain is second to only Bausch Health (BHC). In January, Nvidia certainly benefited from the broad tailwind that lifted many of 2022’s biggest losers . The stock’s exceptional performance this year goes much deeper to company-specific factors — specifically, all the buzz around generative artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia’s semiconductors and related software are integral to the budding generative AI field, which generally refers to a type of artificial intelligence that can create text, images and code in response to user queries. Optimism around generative AI began late last year, with the release of ChatGPT, and it’s picked up steam well into 2023. “AI adoption is at an inflection point,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on the…
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