Argus has published its latest Portfolio Selector, which features its popular Focus List. Each month, Director of Research Jim Kelleher, CFA, surveys the team of Argus Research industry analysts for their timeliest recommendations out of the company's fundamental universe of approximately 500 stocks. The Focus List typically includes 30 stocks: turnover is high, as Jim typically adds three or four new stocks per month. Below are the latest additions, all of which are rated BUY at Argus.

Wars -- particularly in the oil-rich Mideast -- have a way of worrying inflation watchers. In the current situation, oil prices have jumped sharply since the fighting began, and we are now seeing the impact of higher energy prices spreading to almost every sector of the economy. Let's take a look at the numbers. First, according to last week's CPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), gasoline prices are up almost 30% over the past year as the price of a barrel of crude oil has soared this spring to above $100 from a low of $55 late last year. Prices in the broad energy category are up 18% in the past year, including a 6% climb in electricity prices. Moving along the value chain, transport prices are higher by 4.3%, which is an increase from the 4.1% inflation rate a month ago; and apparel prices are rising at a 4.2% pace compared to the prior month's 3.4% increase. Hungry? Food prices are going up, too. Food prices last month rose at a 3.2% rate compared to a 2.7% rate a month ago. Is anything lower? Not much, but we do note that prices for medical care services rose at "only" a 3.2% rate last month, down from 3.7% a month earlier. Maybe that's because consumers are starting to tighten their belts and are cutting back on visits to the doctor. One bright spot: used car prices are down 2.7% year over year. But it will cost you more to fill that clunker's tank.

The Portfolio Selector features the Argus Focus List, a group of 30 "best idea" stocks generated and regularly updated by Argus' analysts and investment policy committee. It also includes the director of research’s monthly investment strategy column, stock recommendations and sector picks, economic forecasts, and an asset allocation model. This month, the Focus List additions are AbbVie Inc (ABBV); Applovin Corp (APP); Nokia Oyj (NOK); Ulta Beauty Inc (ULTA) and the Focus List deletions are Salesforce Inc (CRM); DoorDash Inc (DASH); International Business Machine (IBM); IQVIA Holdings Inc (IQV).

While the large cap indices make all-time highs day after day, there are technical cracks everywhere else. This includes secondary indices, sectors, industries, and individual stocks. We have talked about poor market breadth, and perhaps the only thing we can say is that most money is invested in the mega-cap indices, so there is no problem until there is. We hear it's different this time -- and for now it certainly is. How long the AI party will last is unknown. So as we always do, we'll leave it up to price. The NYSE and the Dow Jones have not exceeded their February all-time highs (ATHs). The S&P MidCap 400 (MDY) was last at an ATH on May 6, followed by a bearish engulfing candlestick and a potential false breakout. The S&P Small Cap 600 (SML) also peaked on May 6, has been down for four of the past five days, and is sitting on important short-term support at its 21-day exponential moving average. The Nasdaq 100 has 19% of its issues at ATHs, the S&P 500 has 8%, the MDY 5%, and the SML 4%. Some 8% of the QQQ's holdings are at 52-week lows, 9% of the S&P 500 and the MDY, and 5% of the SML. The QQQ has 20% of its issues at a one-month high, the S&P 500 has 12%, the MDY 7%, and the SML 6%. Yet 24% to 27% of the issues in the four indices are at one-month lows. Since the spike began, the number of 52-week highs on the S&P 500 peaked at 51 on April 17 and has fallen to 35, while the number of new lows has climbed to 43. Coming out of the April 2025 slide, we saw 57 new highs more than three months into the rally. But during early stages of other recent recoveries, the number has been in 80 to 120 issues.