STEPHANIE LINK_PERSONAL

Chief Investment Strategist. Head of Investment solutions & PM at Hightower Advisors. CNBC contributor. Treasure family time & a good run. Proud BC alum.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Bought $DECK. Brand momentum with DD growth, International and DTC growth, inv<sales for 9 consecutive Qs. Valuation.
#imarunner

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Short and sweet - always enjoyable to be on @SquawkCNBC. Happy Monday!

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Chase Aug spending data: Total spend up 4.9% y/y in Aug vs 4.2% y/y in July. MTD discresh up 6.4% vs non-discresh up 2.4%. Thank you to Gen Z/Millennials for driving the spend with MTD up 7.9% vs Gen X up 2.2% and Baby Booms up 1.8%. #consumer

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Pretty good week despite all the negative folks. Encouraged by the PMIs - esp manufacturing, TOL/HD earnings - and even TGT as less bad. Did some buying. 4Q will be great 4 mkts. C you on @SquawkCNBC Monday morning.

Big week for the Links:
Kool & The Gang - Celebration

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

$META $GOOGL sign a new cloud deal - the first ever partnership btn the 2. https://t.co/cJ84jK8gU1

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

$BA close to inking a deal to sell 500 planes to China. https://t.co/1SzEKvK63v

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

95% of the $SPX have reported 2Q - EPS growth 11%, sales growth 6%. Headed in expectations were for just 5% EPS growth and LSD sales. Guides also constructive. This is why Jax Hole commentary from Powell tmrw - if disappoints, is a buying opp. IMO.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

US PMIs beat across the board on manufacturing and services. Manufacturing best since 2022. Composite at 55.4 - equal to Dec 2024. Economy remains resilient.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

A lot to unpack w $TGT: 2Q in line on SSS, OM, GM. Inventory bright spot up 2% w units down LSD, closing the gap to its -1.9% comp. MT guide.

Not ideal an internal CEO. But why sell now? There is enterprise value in this brand - imo.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

$TOL: beat on higher deliveries, margins, and BTL items. Impressive GMs 27.5% ahead of Street 27.1%.

Not perfect. But the bottom is in for housing.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

The average 30-year mortgage rate on https://t.co/dhJ7hoyUdQ has fallen to 6.65%, which is the lowest level of the year and the best rate seen since last September. #housing $DHI $TOL $LEN $KBH

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

$PANW: beat/raise as cyber security demand remains v strong. Eps up 25% y/y, TR up 16%, product rev up 19% and subscription up 15%. RPO up 24% and net Gen ARR up 32%. Next gen ARR guide much higher for 4Q $7- 7.10B vs $5.84B.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Consumer resiliency: $BAC Card Data shows that Airline Spending growth and Airport Traffic surged in July. And gains in MoM card spending were broad-based even among the low end consumer. Jobs=spend.
BTS will be a hit in my view. Housing will recover.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

$CMG $ETN $ROK ⁦@CNBC⁩ https://t.co/uaaukPRpzs

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Always a great conversation and playing referee ⁦@SquawkCNBC⁩ ⁦@JoeSquawk⁩ https://t.co/bTQuxhcneq

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

After a very enjoyable 3 hits today on CNBC I am scooting out to play 9. Good week as we chip away at the TGIF - Tariffs, Geopolitics, Inflation & Fed. Next week will be fun with retail and Jax Hole.

Back to my early roots with:
The Outlaws - Playin' to Win (stocks included)

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Enjoying this new Berkshire team with buys of $UNH $DHI.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

Recall 2020 Jackson Hole Powell speech: “The new framework -- allowing inflation to overshoot the 2% target for a period of time following a duration of below-target inflation -- suggests the Fed will allow the economy to run hot before applying the interest-rate brakes”.

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

After all of that in January: DeepSeek's launch of new AI model delayed by Huawei chip issues, https://t.co/PDIj7qDMok

[Stephanie Link @Stephanie_Link]

$AMZN: increasing its grocery efforts with same day delivery on perishables to 1K mkts and to get to 2500 by EOY. Grocery is the biggest retail category.

https://t.co/5OmGXHlw4V