This market is anything but easy. One day, we’re setting a new high and the next day, we might be down 2%. That’s volatility for ya. Not only volatility, but there’s also lots of sector rotation happening. The stocks that are up this year are, generally, not the ones that have been hot over the last few years.
The Magnificent 7 aren’t looking so magnificent in 2026. NVIDIA (NVDA) is basically flat, Microsoft (MSFT) is off 18%, Tesla (TSLA) is down 9%. I could go on…
What’s doing well? As we’ve discussed, Consumer Defensive stocks are rocketing. Like Walmart (WMT), Pepsi (PEP), and Clorox (CL), up 16%, 13%, and 21%, respectively. Industrials are mostly green, too. Caterpillar (CAT) is up more than 30%.
There’s always a bull market somewhere. It’s just not always obvious, and the Mag 7 stocks, with their huge weight in the indices, has lulled us into thinking that investing is easy.
Now, however, it’s a stock picker’s market. And that’s where TheStreet Pro comes in. As we’ve been discussing, our team of traders and analysts offers amazing trade ideas. Combine that with the ability to do additional research on TipRanks, and you’ve got the start of a winning portfolio! The best part is that today is a great time to become a member of TheStreet Pro. An annual subscription is currently half off during our President’s Day sale. You can learn more here.
Today, I’d like to share a few ideas from our team. Some trades take time to work, and we’ll start with two of those. McDonald’s is a new name for us to discuss. Cullinan Therapeutics, however, is one that I’d like to follow up on. Afterwards, we’ll review two bounce candidates with chart patterns that make for a good potential opportunity.
One of the things I like about Ed Ponsi’s work is that he combines charts with financial data. He’s always looking for an edge, and that benefits his readers. On Tuesday, Ed published “McDonald’s Sees Price Target Changes Amid Wendy’s Issues” over on TheStreet Pro.
First of all, did you know that McDonald’s (MCD) has returned more than 850% in the last 20 years? And that it’s largely gone sideways for the last four? Well, shares are already up 8% in 2026 and Ed thinks that’s just the beginning.
Technically, the stock remains in a long-term uptrend. The wind is at its back! In the short term, the stock broke out of a long consolidation to close at a new all-time high.
Fundamentally, that new high came on the heels of the company’s Q4 earnings report, which just barely topped analysts’ estimates. As a result, Jeffries and Argus both upped their ratings of the stock.
Now, you might be thinking about beef prices. Yes, as Chris Versace told us in the must-read daily “8 Key Items…”, beef prices have been on the rise this year. This has hurt McDonald’s competitor Wendy’s (WEN), which is closing stores and raising prices.
Ed thinks the Wendy’s store closures are good for McDonald’s. The franchises are often located near one another, and McDonald’s will be the beneficiary of a less-crowded fast food playing field.
If you’re an investor in McDonald’s, good for you! I hope you’ve been in for the last 20 years. If not, the last few years have required lots of patience, which we hope you’ll be rewarded for.
We’ve talked about James “Rev Shark” DePorre several times here. The guy knows how to trade, and he’s not stingy in sharing his rules for being a better trader. On Tuesday, he published “This Market Stinks. So Hold Your Nose and Follow These Rules” on TheStreet Pro.
While my goal isn’t to talk about his rules, I’ll share them here before getting into his update on a stock we’ve talked about already, Cullinan Therapeutics (CGEM).
Now, on to CGEM.
If you recall, Rev offered the following reasons for owning CGEM:
Catalysts, including a new drug application, trials tests due soon for drugs for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, plus lots of cash on the company’s books.
Analysts think the stock could more than double this year.
The chart supports a breakout
While the stock did break out of the cup-and-handle pattern Rev mentioned previously, shares fell back on broader weakness in the market.
But there’s additional support for the company in the form of analyst ratings. Tuesday, TheFly reported that Citi has initiated CGEM with a Buy rating and $33 price target. That’s big.
Either way, with the stock trading around $12, even if the lowest analyst target is hit, the stock could be a double.
One of the things I like most about TheStreet Pro is that there’s something for everyone. One of Rev’s rules is that you shouldn’t try to time the low. Helene Meisler would probably agree with him; there’s nothing she loves more than a stock that breaks out from a good base. However, she’s perfectly willing to suggest short-term trades when she thinks the rewards outweigh the risks.
And that’s exactly what she did on Tuesday morning with Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL), two members of the Mag 7.
Both stocks have been on losing streaks. Amazon has dropped from a 2026 high of near 250 to just under 200.
Alphabet is trading near 300 after having hit 349 just two weeks ago.
Meisler says that both stocks are heavily oversold and, if they’re going to bounce, this looks like a good place for it to happen. However, rather than trading either of those names, she’d stick with the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV).
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
ThePostMaster
