Google stock rallied above a buy point on Friday, while Walmart, Lam Research, Las Vegas Sands and AppLovin all trade near buy points as the market gained on Friday to cap off the first full trading week of August.
The Nasdaq composite hit a record high Friday while the S&P 500 set an all-time closing best, though much of the market paused after a strong start to the week. IBD currently recommends 80% to 100% stock market exposure.
Investors can buy stocks with a 21-day average true range (ATR) of up to 8%, but should remain cautious about concentrating too heavily in volatile names.
The average true range is a metric available on IBD's MarketSurge that gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks with a high ATR tend to make large price moves that can trigger sell rules. Stocks with lower ATRs tend to make more incremental moves.
Apple Drives Nasdaq To High; Two Other Titans In Buy Areas
Google Stock
Google stock on Friday swung 2.5% higher to break out above a 197.95 buy point for a cup-with-handle base. The current buy zone, which extends 5% beyond the buy point, stretches to 207.84. GOOGL leapt 6.5% for the week.
Alphabet has seen its relative strength line improve since early July, and delivered a major Q2 beat on July 23.
The tech giant reported a 22% increase in earnings on 14% revenue growth. Cloud computing revenue jumped 32% to $13.62 billion, driven by artificial intelligence-related workloads. Google plans to reach $85 billion in capital spending this year, up from $75 billion, as it continues to invest in its AI business. JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth says he expects Google's cloud computing unit to become a stronger rival against the likes of Amazon.com and Microsoft.
Alphabet is a member of the IBD Leaderboard list. Google served as Friday's IBD Stock Of The Day and was added to SwingTrader at a half position.
SwingTrader set a stop loss below Thursday's low of 194.33.
Google stock has advanced about 6% so far this year and is nearing its all-time high, set in February. Alphabet ranks fifth in the Internet-Content industry group, according to the IBD Stock Checkup.
Shares have a 95 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The Composite Rating combines various technical indicators into one easy-to-read score. Google stock has a 97 EPS Rating and an 82 RS Rating.
Alphabet shares have a 21-day ATR of 2.12%.
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Walmart Stock
Walmart is trading in a buy zone ahead of its earnings report due Aug. 21.
Shares broke out above the 100.89 flat base entry on Wednesday, rising 5.3% for the week. The buy zone for the pattern extends to 105.93.
Walmart stock has rebounded about 31% from its April 7 low with a 15% gain so far this year.
The RS line has improved in the past few weeks after lagging for some time.
Meanwhile, analysts expect earnings and revenue growth to pick back up after decelerating over the past two quarters.
For Q2 results, FactSet forecasts Walmart will report an 8% increase in earnings on 4% revenue growth. The Dow retailer for Q1 reported just a 2% increase in earnings on 4% sales growth, slowing from a 14% earnings gain and 5% sales growth in Q3.
Slower earnings growth could limit WMT stock's upside. Walmart ranks second in the Retail-Major Discount Chains industry group.
Shares have a 76 Composite Rating and a 71 EPS Rating. WMT's relative strength line started to rebound in mid-July, and it has an 83 RS Rating.
Walmart stock has a 21-day ATR of 1.51%.
Lam Research Stock
Lam Research was added to the IBD Big Cap 20 list on Thursday and IBD Leaderboard on Friday. The semiconductor manufacturing equipment and services provider has seen earnings and revenue accelerate over the past two quarters.
Lam on July 30 reported a 64% increase in Q4 earnings while revenue jumped 34%, driven by strength in China. The results were up from 21% earnings growth and 16% sales growth in Q2.
The company expects Q1 earnings of $1.20 per share at the midpoint, with the middle of its sales forecast at $5.2 billion. Lam's guidance was ahead of FactSet estimates at the time, which called for earnings of about $1 per share on $4.6 billion in sales.
Shares received a number of modest price target raises following the report, with Morgan Stanley writing that there is "a lot to appreciate about LAM," The Fly reported. Morgan Stanley lifted its price target by 7 to 94 and kept an equal weight rating on shares.
Citi lifted its price target on LRCX by 5 to 113 and maintained a buy rating, noting that the recent sell-off presented a buying opportunity.
LRCX stock surged 5.6% this week to rebound from a drop to its 10-week line after earnings. Shares on Friday broke a trendline for a short consolidation.
Investors could view the consolidation as a handle to a 13-month base.
Lam Research leads the Elec-Semiconductor Equipment Group. LRCX stock has a 98 Composite Rating and a 95 EPS Rating. The stock's relative strength line has generally trended higher since April, with an 88 RS Rating.
Lam Research has a 21-day ATR of 3.03%.
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Las Vegas Sands Stock
Las Vegas Sands was the IBD Stock Of The Day for Wednesday.
Shares of the casino and luxury resort operator trade in a buy zone for a cup-with-handle base, after breaking out above the 50.67 buy point on July 24. Shares are forming a shelf in the buy zone, and touching back to test very short-term support at the five-day moving average.
LVS stock is actionable now, or investors could wait to buy after clearing the shelf, with is now a three-weeks-tight pattern with a 53.58 buy point.
Las Vegas Sands has rallied more than 74% from its April 8 low but is still only up 2.5% this year.
Las Vegas Sands primarily operates in Macau and Singapore after reaching a deal to offload its Nevada properties in 2021. That's proved a boon for Las Vegas Sands, which saw "an incredible quarter in Singapore," as BofA described the late July results. Meanwhile, Macau's gaming bureau last week reported that gross gaming revenue for July was up 19% year over year, which topped expectations for the fourth month in a row, Bloomberg reported.
Las Vegas Sands ranks fourth in the Leisure-Gaming/Equipment Group. LVS stock has a 94 Composite Rating, but a lowly 44 EPS Rating. Shares have an 88 RS Rating.
LVS stock has a 21-Day ATR of 2.21%.
AppLovin
AppLovin continues to surge after its Q2 beat from Wednesday. The app marketing software firm reported a 169% increase in earnings on 17% sales growth.
AppLovin said that it expects Q3 sales of $1.33 billion, just ahead of Wall Street views.
On Friday, APP stock jumped more than 4% after rallying nearly 12% on Thursday.
AppLovin is now slightly extended from the cup buy zone. Shares broke out above the 428.99 buy point during Thursday's spike, which also cleared an early entry opportunity at 400.
APP is up nearly 41% so far this year.
AppLovin leads the Computer Software-Specialty Enterprise Group. It has a 98 for both its Composite and RS Ratings. The stock has an 82 EPS Rating.
APP stock has a 21-Day ATR of 5.52%.
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