Presenting The (Not) Top 10 Stocks of the Week

Subscribers to Chart of the Week received this commentary on Sunday, February 15.

If you’re under the age of 50 and like sports even just a little, ESPN’s Top 10 Plays occupies a certain corner of your nostalgic brain. There was nothing better than having your cereal before school and catching up on the best (and worst) plays from the last night.

Social media and streaming have made highlights so readily available that it’s diluted the impact of Top 10 Plays. No need to wait anymore for a broad range of highlights across sports when you can get it custom-tailored to your interests right away.

But Friday morning, I happened to catch the Top 10 Plays of last night, and they still hit.

You probably know where this is going …

It’s hard to make a Top 10 plays of the week on the stock market, considering the choppiness we’re riding out. But what about Not Top 10!? Those were sometimes just as fun!

So, I picked the most interesting names on FinViz by one-week performance, volume, and market cap above $2 billion. What’s fascinating is that even in the thick of earnings season, there are a lot of storylines to be gleaned from this.

Try to read these the way the late, great Stuart Scott would. Boo-yah!

10. Robinhood Markets (HOOD)

We’ve got a tie for No. 10, marrying new school and old school financials. First up we have Robinhood, one of the most ironically-named companies out there. A Q4 revenue miss was exacerbated by four price-target cuts, the worst coming from J.P. Morgan Securities to $113. For better or worse, HOOD is now tied to cryptocurrency weakness as well, resulting in five-straight weekly losses.

10a. Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF)

Quietly one of the worst-performing ETFs this week. Tested its 320-day moving average on Friday, but prior to that was on a four-day skid for… reasons? Rate cut optimism I guess?

Options traders have been on top of it, with puts outnumbering calls by nearly a two-to-one ratio in the last two weeks.

9. Cisco Systems (CSCO)

Bad week to be a leading software stock. Cisco’s top-line beat got punked by rising memory chip prices, with AI hardware demand pinching global shortages. Four straight losses to end the week has CSCO testing its 126-day moving average.

8. Carvana (CVNA)

Carvana didn’t even report earnings, it just had a crummy week. Heading for a 14.5% weekly loss, the double top formation has proven formidable. Late last month, Gotham City Research accused the car retailer of hiding a casual $1 billion in expenses. Considering the astronomical 3,000% three-year gain, something smells.

Earnings are after the close next Wednesday, and six out of the last eight post-earnings moves have been to the upside, though CVNA did fall by 13.8% after its October report. The stock has moved by double digits after earnings in the last two years, so buckle up.

How do they get those cars up there, anyway?

7. DraftKings (DKNG)

I had to restrain myself from talking DraftKings after I stepped on a rake in the summer. But can’t ignore it any longer. This week featured the classic top-line beat overshadowed by a dismal fiscal year revenue forecast. Tale as old as time.

Three price-target cuts Friday are probably just the beginning considering DKNG’s consensus 12-month price target of $43.61 is a 96% premium from its current perch.

That’s now six straight weekly losses for the stock, and this latest one was its worst since November 2022. Meanwhile, all I see everywhere is Kalshi Kalshi Kalshi.

6. NuScale Power (SMR)

Back when SMR was trading around $53 in October, I really thought I had missed the train. This week, a downgrade from TD Cowen to “hold” from “buy” sent Nuscale dangerously close to those Liberation Day lows of $11.09.

A strategic partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, backed by the Department of Energy. And with all the money being poured into nuclear energy, this stumble is a head scratcher.

5. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS)

ASTS looked like star to end January, trading as high as $129.89 and tailwinds blowing. But it’s a loooong season, and stocks — like basketball — are a game of runs.