Nvidia, Neurocrine Biosciences, Abercrombie & Fitch, PulteGroup and Ares Management are in focus this week.
The stock market rally attempt had strong sessions Thursday and especially Friday as Wall Street weighed a weaker-than-expected April jobs report. The Nasdaq reclaimed its 50-day line to close out the week.
These five stocks, led by Nvidia, are now setting up or are already trading near buy points and should be on investors' watchlists.
Nvidia stock is on IBD Leaderboard and SwingTrader. PulteGroup and Neurocrine Biosciences are on the IBD 50. Abercrombie was Friday's IBD Stock Of The Day.
Nvidia Stock
NVDA is back in the spotlight after reclaiming its 50-day moving average Friday. Nvidia stock gained 3.5% to 887.83 Friday, retaking the 50-day line once again Shares advanced 1.2% on the week.
NVDA shares are basing with an official 974 buy point, according to MarketSurge.
Investors could use Nvidia stock's move above the 50-day line and a trendline break for an early entry. Shares traded above the April 30 high of 888.19, but closed just below that level.
On April 19, NVDA hit a recent low of 756.06 and plummeted below its 50-day line. However, the stock has rallied 17% since then.
NVDA stock fell back below its 50-day line on Wednesday, following lackluster guidance from rival Advanced Micro Devices.
But Nvidia is the clear AI leader. Its May 22 earnings report will be hugely important for the AI market rally.
On April 24, Nvidia entered into an agreement to buy Run.ai. According to TechCrunch, the price tag is $700 million. Run.ai helps developers use AI tools more efficiently and reveals Nvidia's road map and priorities. Run.ai works with Nvidia's Cloud AI product that helps businesses get "instant access to an AI supercomputer from a browser."
Before last week's rebound, Nvidia shares had given back gains from Nvidia's GTC conference for AI developers in March. The stock had a huge 239% run in 2023 and is up 75% so far this year.
Nvidia stock has a best-possible 99 Composite Rating. NVDA also has a near-perfect 98 Relative Strength Rating and a 99 EPS Rating.
Neurocrine Biosciences Stock
NBIX edged up 0.6% to 140.71 Friday while gaining 3.5% on the week. The stock is trading around 6% below an official flat-base buy point of 148.37, according to MarketSurge.
The flat base forged next to a prior flat base.
Aggressive investors could use Wednesday's high of 145.22 as an early entry.
Investors know Neurocrine best for its tardive dyskinesia treatment, Ingrezza. Tardive dyskinesia was a relatively unknown condition when Ingrezza launched in 2017. The movement disorder is a side effect of some antipsychotics. Now, diagnosis rates are on the rise.
However, enthusiasm is also building for Neurocrine's early-stage efforts to target muscarinic receptors in the brain. Doing so could lead to new treatments for other movement disorders, schizophrenia and central nervous system conditions.
Analysts expect the biotech play's 2024 earnings to grow 86% compared to a year ago with sales increasing 17%, according to FactSet.
On May 1, Neurocrine reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings with sales rising 23% to $515.3 million.
NBIX stock has a 98 Composite Rating out of 99. The stock's Relative Strength Rating is 84. The EPS Rating is 92 out of 99.
Abercrombie & Fitch Stock
ANF stock advanced 3.1% to 128.76 Friday, part of a 5.5% weekly gain. Abercrombie & Fitch stock is moving off the 50-day moving average, clearing very short-term highs and arguably breaking a downward trendline. That all offers an early entry.
ANF is currently around 8% below an official 140.28 buy point for a two-month high.
Abercrombie & Fitch stock went on a mammoth 10-month run, surging 343% from a May 2023 breakout to its early March 2024 peak. Since then shares pulled back, but have been building the right side of a new base for the past couple of weeks.
In March, Abercrombie topped earnings and sales estimates. The company said it earned $2.97 per share on revenue of $1.45 billion. Earnings surged 267% vs. the year-ago period, while sales climbed 21%.
The teen-friendly apparel retailer also issued a forecast for fiscal 2024 revenue growth of 4%-6%; it earned $4.3 billion in 2023. That growth rate is a slowdown from the prior year as comparisons get much tougher.
Abercrombie & Fitch stock has a 96 Composite Rating, a 99 Relative Strength Rating and an EPS Rating of 77 out of 99.
PulteGroup Stock
PHM stock climbed 2.5% to 116.64 on the week. Nearly all of that gain came on Friday, but shares closed the session near intraday lows after hitting 120.74 in the morning.
As of Friday's close, Pulte has a new flat base with a 121.08 buy point.
The stock's relative strength line is just below highs and has been on an upward trajectory since October 2023.
Atlanta-based PulteGroup is America's third-largest homebuilder based on the number of completed home sales. PulteGroup builds single-family detached homes, mostly in Florida and in the Western states.
PulteGroup reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and revenue on April 23, with EPS growing 32%. Meanwhile, home closings increased 11% to 7,095 units with home sale gross margins jumping 50 basis points to 29.6%. The company also ended Q1 with a backlog of 13,430 homes valued at $8.2 billion.
"We are well positioned to expand our market share while helping to provide much needed new housing stock," Chief Executive Ryan Marshall said.
The April 23 earnings report pushed Pulte stock back above its 50-day line.
PulteGroup stock sits on the IBD 50 list. PHM stock has a 96 Composite Rating with a Relative Strength Rating of 91. The EPS Rating is 94 out of 99.
Ares Management Stock
Shares of ARES fell 2% Friday to 131.91, below the 50-day line and off 1.3% for the week. The stock swung wildly Thursday after the firm reported worse-than-expected first-quarter earnings and revenue, undercutting recent lows before finishing the day higher.
Shares are in a flat base with an official 139.48 buy point. Aggressive investors could use the April 24 high of 138.45 as an early entry, according to MarketSurge analysis.
Investment manager Ares primarily focuses on supplying credit to private borrowers. It provides an alternative to bank credit or the public debt markets.
Ares was cofounded in 1997 by Tony Ressler, also the co-founder of Apollo Global Management.
The firm reported Q1 earnings growing 13% to 80 cents per share with revenue increasing 9% to $707 million. Analysts expected EPS of 92 cents and around $750 million in revenue.
Ares' assets under management grew 19% to around $428 billion in Q1. That includes its private credit, private equity, real estate and infrastructure asset segments.
On Feb. 8, Ares Management announced a 21% quarterly dividend increase to 93 cents a share. Chief Financial Officer Jarrod Phillips attributed the hike to the 19% increase in management fees in 2023 and "strong growth prospects" for 2024.
Ares Management was profiled last month in IBD's The New America. ARES stock has a 92 Composite Rating out of 99 with a Relative Strength Rating of 90. The EPS Rating is 84 out of 99.
Please follow Kit Norton on X, formerly known as Twitter, @KitNorton for more coverage.
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