Charting

It's not much, time-wise, but this is a graph (I know, I said "charting") of the S&P 500 sectors' performance during the year so far.

Unexpectedly (probably) the top growth sectors are coming from the riskiest areas, while the staid, old-guard stocks are underperforming.  Make of it what you will, but so far, the growth in our market is coming from some surprising areas.

It will be worthwhile to look at this again after earnings season, which kicks-of on Friday with the big banks.

OK, so here's your chart.  I took a look at this today and, even though I don't put much faith in charting, some things are too difficult to ignore.

It's a five-year chart of one of my favorite stocks, Salesforce.com (Symbol: CRM)

If we go back to May of 2012, and draw a line along the peaks in the stock, we can see that it has achieved higher highs, all the way through to late July of 2017.  In addition, during that same time period, the lows have been higher as well.  There has been a breakout from that trend that started in January of 2017.

Recently, the stock broke through the high-line into a new area, where it traded today at 109.10 - up significantly since I first recommended it in on December 15.

So, what now?  I like Salesforce (CRM) here, and would buy it in the 103-105 range, as it appears to be worth around $130.

So, what now?  You have two choices:  (a) you can anticipate the trend line and figure that the stock will continue higher, into the 130-range, or (2) you can wait for it to fall back to its low trend line, or somewhere in between - back to the 105-range.  I really can't see it trading back to that 75-to-80 level again, unless there is some major misstep with their earnings call, which is coming on February 28, when the company is expected to post earnings of $0.33 per share.

Yes, that makes the stock highly valued, and as such, any sort of negative news or lowered estimates will send investors running for their profitable exits.  But, that's the game, right?  They have to be able to convince Wall Street that the growth ride will continue.  If there were any sure things, you wouldn't be reading this.

Make of it what you will, do your due diligence, and invest wisely.