S&P 500 components Amazon.com, Netflix, Blackstone and Micron Technology are in focus for this week's stock market. Spotify Technology is also a stock to watch.
The stock market rally still appears to be going strong and was little changed last week despite a surprisingly hot PPI inflation report Thursday. However, market breadth overall appears slightly weak with many AI and other growth plays coming under selling pressure toward the end of the week.
Investors should be working on watchlists and possible exit strategies. Some investors may have already looked to take profits in extended names while others could be looking for buying opportunities to get into new leadership sectors.
With that in mind, these five stocks are all near buy points.
Investors can also keep tabs on the Leaderboard, the IBD 50 list of top growth stocks and IBD SwingTrader along with the IBD Sector Leaders list.
S&P 500: Amazon Stock Performance
Amazon stock advanced 3.75% to 231.02 in last week's stock market action.
On Thursday, Amazon stock popped 2.9% to 230.98, breaking a downtrend of a new handle, offering an early entry. AMZN added to Wednesday's bounce off the 10-week line, with the e-commerce giant that day announcing a much-bigger push into same-day grocery delivery.
The official buy point is 236.53, according to MarketSurge.
Amazon reported Q2 earnings on July 31, with results showing cloud revenue growth just in line with estimates. Compared to stronger cloud growth at Microsoft and Google, Amazon's Q2 raised concerns that the company's two smaller cloud competitors were winning the battle for AI-related business.
Meanwhile, Amazon said Wednesday it will soon offer same-day delivery of groceries in 2,300 U.S. cities and towns by the end of the year. Amazon previously only offered perishable items through its Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh brands. Now they will be available on the much larger Amazon.com, with the option to add fresh grocery items to standard orders.
Amazon stock is ahead about 5% year to date. That marks a major recovery from the steep slump this spring, when tariffs appeared as a significant threat to Amazon's e-commerce operations. The S&P 500 giant was the IBD Stock Of The Day on Thursday, Aug. 14.
Amazon has a 21-day average true range of 2.27%. The ATR metric, available on IBD's MarketSurge charting tool, gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily stock market action, the kind that can trigger sell rules and shake investors out of a stock, have a high ATR. Stocks that tend to make more incremental moves have lower ATRs.
Amazon stock has a 94 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The S&P 500 stock also has a 77 Relative Strength Rating and a 74 EPS Rating.
Spotify Stock
SPOT shares gained 3.8% during the week to 732.95. Spotify stock advanced above its 50-day moving average on Friday's 4.9% move.
The short-term high of 717.27 offered an early entry. The stock has a traditional 785 buy point, its all-time high from June 27, according to MarketSurge charts.
In early August, Spotify announced plans to raise the price of its premium subscription service in multiple markets outside the U.S. Spotify said it is raising its prices across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. In Europe, the individual subscription price will rise to 11.99 euros ($13.89) per month from 10.99 euros.
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Meanwhile, Spotify in late July beat estimates for subscribers and users in the second quarter but posted a surprise loss in the period. The streaming music leader also came up short on revenue and with its sales outlook.
For the current quarter, Spotify forecast revenue of $4.86 billion, vs. the consensus estimate of $5.25 billion. In the year-earlier period, it generated $4.22 billion in sales. Further, it expects to add 5 million premium subscribers, ending the September quarter with 281 million. Plus, it is targeting 710 million monthly active users, up 14 million.
Spotify stock is on the IBD Tech Leaders list. SPOT stock has a 21-day average true range of 4.33%. The stock has a 61 Composite Rating, a 91 Relative Strength Rating and a low 18 EPS Rating.
S&P 500: Netflix Stock
Streaming leader Netflix climbed 2.25% to 1,238.95 during the week, just retaking its 50-day moving average on Friday after a sharp break of that level in mid July. A flat base is forming with a traditional 1,341.15 buy point, according to IBD chart analysis.
Aggressive investors could use Thursday's high of 1,244.09 as an aggressive early entry.
Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix dominates the subscription video-on-demand market with its deep library of binge-worthy television shows and topflight movies.
On July 17, Netflix posted a modest second-quarter beat. The streaming giant earned $7.19 a share in Q2, up 47% year over year, on sales of $11.08 billion, up 16%.
For the current quarter, Netflix forecast earnings of $6.87 a share, up 27% year over year, on sales of $11.53 billion, up 17%. Netflix also raised its 2025 revenue forecast to $45 billion at the midpoint of its outlook. That would translate to growth of 15% from 2024.
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Netflix has a 21-day average true range of 2.46%. The streaming giant has a strong 97 Composite Rating, a 90 Relative Strength Rating and a 97 EPS Rating.
Blackstone Stock
Financial giant Blackstone advanced 1.6% on the week to 171.62, but booked declines on Thursday and Friday. The S&P 500 stock is forming a cup-with-handle base with a 181.32 buy point, according to MarketSurge pattern recognition.
BX shares could be actionable if it makes a move above Wednesday's high of 177.41.
Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager, with $1.2 trillion in assets under management. Its services include managing some of the largest institutional funds, including endowments, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds. Its retail products include mutual funds, ETFs and closed-end funds.
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The New York-based firm cited strong growth in multiple business areas in its most recent earnings report, which beat analysts' expectations.
Executives gave upbeat comments on the company's outlook, painting "a very positive multiyear picture for the firm," said CFO Michael Chae.
Blackstone was the IBD Stock Of The Day on Wednesday, Aug. 13. BX has a 21-day average true range of 2.57%. The stock has a 94 Composite Rating. The S&P 500 stock also has a 78 Relative Strength Rating and an 84 EPS Rating.
S&P 500: Micron
Memory-chip maker Micron fell 3.5% during Friday's stock market trading, but still ended the week up 1.7% to 120.87. The S&P 500 stock is about 7% below a 129.85 cup-base entry, according to IBD MarketSurge chart analysis. Micron stock could potentially forge a handle from that base in the coming days.
The S&P 500 memory-chip maker has reversed its fortunes since bottoming at 61.54 on April 7. Micron shares have galloped nearly 100% higher since then.
In June, the 50-day moving average climbed back above the 200-day line, which points to rising technical strength. The relative strength line has started bending higher, confirming expanding market leadership.
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Based in Boise, Idaho, Micron Technology is a global leader in memory and storage products. On Aug. 11, the S&P 500 stock raised its guidance for the current quarter and now expects to earn an adjusted $2.85 a share on sales of $11.2 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter ending Aug. 28. That's based on the midpoint of its outlook. Analysts polled by FactSet were looking for earnings of $2.51 a share on sales of $10.75 billion.
Micron had previously guided to adjusted earnings of $2.50 a share on sales of $10.7 billion for fiscal Q4. In the year-ago quarter, Micron earned an adjusted $1.18 a share on sales of $7.75 billion.
Micron has a 21-day average true range of 3.79%. Shares have a robust 98 Composite Rating. The S&P 500 stock also has an 88 Relative Strength Rating and an 82 EPS Rating.
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