The stock market was mixed last week with Nvidia leading growth stocks significantly. The major indexes rebounded strongly Friday in the wake of cooling inflation, kicking off a stock market rally attempt. A number of names are setting up or trading near buy points. Among them, Dow Jones component 3M, Tradeweb Markets, Urban Outfitters, Carpenter Technology and IBD 50 member Brown & Brown.
However, investors should remain cautious in the current market. IBD currently recommends 20% to 40% stock market exposure, with the Nasdaq undercutting January lows and the S&P 500 below its 50-day line.
Tradeweb Markets Stock
Tradeweb Markets was Friday's IBD Stock Of The Day as shares climbed to test an early entry opportunity.
Dow Jones stock TW on Friday jumped 3.3% to 135.37 to peek above a 134.85 early entry. The traditional flat-base buy point is 141.69.
SwingTrader added TW stock on Friday as a half position at a 134.94 entry. The SwingTrader buy zone ranges from 134.60 to 137.29, with a stop loss set at close below Friday's low of 131.15.
Tradeweb runs electronic marketplaces for fixed income, money markets and equities across institutional, retail and corporate clients. The company's growth dipped in the fourth quarter, but the markets operator on Feb. 6 beat analyst views with a 25% year-over-year jump in revenue to $463.3 million. Earnings climbed 19% to 76 cents per share.
For the first quarter of 2025, FactSet expects Tradeweb to again deliver a 19% gain in earnings, this time to 84 cents a share. Full-year forecasts call for 16% earnings growth to $3.40 per share.
Urban Outfitters Stock
Urban Outfitters on Wednesday reported a 50% increase in earnings to $1.04 per share adjusted on 10% revenue growth to $1.64 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 94 cents on $1.63 billion in sales.
Urban's namesake brand sales declined slightly, but were offset by growth from Anthropologie, Free People and Nuuly, the company's rental subscription service.
Nuuly sales for the quarter spiked 78% to $112.5 million.
Total retail sales rose 6.3% during the quarter, with a 5.1% increase in comparable sales.
URBN stock jumped 8.2% Thursday following results, adding to gains Friday.
Urban Outfitters on Jan. 22 hit a record high 60.90, which capped off a 52% rally from its Q3 earnings in November.
The stock's January high also marks a buy point for a 19-week flat base.
URBN stock popped above its 50-day moving average following earnings, clearing a trendline early entry.
URBN stock's RS Rating on Friday hit a 52-week high of 94. Shares are up 6% so far this year.
Dow Jones Stock 3M
3M stock rallied last week after providing a medium-term outlook and announcing a new shareholder return plan during its investor day on Wednesday.
The diversified maker of various industrial and medical products maintained its 2025 forecast for earnings between $7.60 and $7.90 per share on 0.5% to 1.5% sales growth.
3M on Tuesday said it expects to achieve an operating margin of about 25% by 2027, with high-single digit EPS growth annually.
The Dow Jones component also said it plans to return at least $10 billion in cash to shareholders by 2027.
3M is also undergoing a major restructure to improve operational performance and optimize its portfolio. The company in April 2024 spun off its health care business into a stand-alone company, Solventum.
Still, Dow Jones stock 3M's quarterly sales performance has been suboptimal. Revenue was essentially flat throughout 2024, after sales fell 20% or more each quarter in 2023.
MMM stock on Wednesday rebounded from just above its 50-day line and a prior buy point. Shares on Thursday cleared their 21-day exponential moving average and a downtrend within an emerging consolidation. On Friday, shares kept running, just topping a short consolidation entry of 155.
MMM stock is up more than 20% in 2025.
Carpenter Technology Stock
Carpenter Technology stock is consolidating, next to a cup base from mid-January. The current pattern looks like a too-short cup-with-handle base. Investors could use 212.73 as a handle entry.
On Friday, shares popped 4.3% to break the downtrend of the handle, offering an early entry. That capped a 6.1% weekly jump from the 10-week line to 207.07.
The maker of specialty metals is on a robust earnings streak. Carpenter Technology averaged nearly 135% earnings growth over the past four quarters, capping it off with a 95% gain for its Q2 report on Jan. 30.
Analysts see profits rising 52% in 2025 and earnings per share of $7.18. FactSet predicts earnings will increase 23% to $8.87 per share in 2026.
Funds have taken note and have been buying up shares.
The number of mutual funds holding CRS stock has increased to 673 for the December-ending quarter from 610 for the September quarter.
Brown & Brown Stock
Shares of S&P 500 component Brown & Brown broke out last week, climbing 6.1% to 118.54, as insurers trend higher on earnings.
BRO stock is trading in a buy zone, above a 114.15 buy point, after pushing above the entry on Tuesday.
The current buy zone, which extends 5% beyond the buy point, stretches to 119.85.
Brown & Brown shares are up more than 15% so far this year, and only had three down days in February, MarketSurge charts show.
Dow Jones stock Brown & Brown is the sixth-largest independent insurance brokerage in the U.S.
The firm on Jan. 27 cleared FactSet estimates for Q4 results with a 48% increase in quarterly profit on about 15% revenue growth.
Rival Progressive last week broke out above a 270.62 buy point for a cup base, following its late-January earnings.
Fellow IBD 50 member Root Insurance broke out from a 118.15 entry Wednesday following a major fourth-quarter beat.
You can follow Harrison Miller for more stock news and updates on X/Twitter @IBD_Harrison
