Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Research from Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Equity Research Firm

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>The WTR Sustainable Index was down 0.2% W/W versus the S&amp;P 500 Index (up 1.5%), the Russell 2000 Index (flat) and the Nasdaq Index (up 2.9%).</li><li>Energy Technology (13.2% of the index) was down 1.4%, while Industrial Climate and Ag Technology (46.5% of the index) was up 0.5%, ClimateTech Mining was down 1.1%, and Advanced Transportation Solutions (22.1% of the index) was up 1.5%.</li><li>Top 10 Performers: LILM, PEV, LBNK, NXH, AZRE, MVST, GOEV, EH, IRBT, NKLA</li></ul>

The WTR Sustainable Index was down 0.2% W/W versus the S&amp;P 500 Index (up 1.5%), the Russell 2000 Index (flat) and the Nasdaq Index (up 2.9%).Energy Technology (13.2% of the index) was down 1.4%, while Industrial Climate and Ag Technology (46.5% of the index) was up 0.5%, ClimateTech Mining was down 1.1%, and Advanced Transportation Solutions (22.1% of the index) was up 1.5%.Top 10 Performers: LILM, PEV, LBNK, NXH, AZRE, MVST, GOEV, EH, IRBT, NKLA

Sustainable Investing Surveyor Focus on FutureFuel (FF)

<ul><li>The WTR Sustainable Index was up 0.5% W/W versus the S&amp;P 500 Index (down 0.2%), the Russell 2000 Index (down 0.3%) and the Nasdaq Index (up 0.1%).</li><li>Energy Technology (13.3% of index) was down 1.2%, while Industrial Climate and Ag Technology (46.6% of index) was up 0.3%, ClimateTech Mining was up 0.4%, and Advanced Transportation Solutions (21.7% of index) was up 2.0%.</li><li>Top 10 Performers: FGPHF, AZRE, CRE, LTBR, NVVE, OPTT, AMSC, TGEN, VLI, ELBM</li></ul>

The WTR Sustainable Index was up 0.5% W/W versus the S&amp;P 500 Index (down 0.2%), the Russell 2000 Index (down 0.3%) and the Nasdaq Index (up 0.1%).Energy Technology (13.3% of index) was down 1.2%, while Industrial Climate and Ag Technology (46.6% of index) was up 0.3%, ClimateTech Mining was up 0.4%, and Advanced Transportation Solutions (21.7% of index) was up 2.0%.Top 10 Performers: FGPHF, AZRE, CRE, LTBR, NVVE, OPTT, AMSC, TGEN, VLI, ELBM

Weekly Sustainable Investing Surveyor - February 10, 2025

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>Our outlook remains bullish, and since late-December we have been suggesting to use the pullback as a buying opportunity.</li>
<li>Most recent/highest conviction "buy-the-dip" call came last week (1/14/25) amid all major indexes testing supports (SPX, QQQ, DJI, IJH, VXF, IWM, ARKK, SMH), bullish breadth divergences, other ongoing bullish signals.</li>
<li>Those dip buys are finally paying off, with all these indexes breaking out from 1+month consolidations. The SPX has gapped-up on four of past five trading days, indicating significant strength</li>
</ul>


Our outlook remains bullish, and since late-December we have been suggesting to use the pullback as a buying opportunity.
Most recent/highest conviction "buy-the-dip" call came last week (1/14/25) amid all major indexes testing supports (SPX, QQQ, DJI, IJH, VXF, IWM, ARKK, SMH), bullish breadth divergences, other ongoing bullish signals.
Those dip buys are finally paying off, with all these indexes breaking out from 1+month consolidations. The SPX has gapped-up on four of past five trading days, indicating significant strength


Local Tops for 10-Year Treasury Yield, DXY, and Crude Oil; All Major Indexes Breaking Out. Bullish

<ul>
<li>Rising DXY, Treasury yields, and now energy commodities breaking out (Bloomberg Commodity index $DJP and WTI crude oil) suggests upside is likely to be capped, but...</li>
<li>...we still continue to see many other risk-on signals. As a result, we view this pullback as a buying opportunity, with all the major indexes testing/holding at support</li>
<li>Looking for support on the S&amp;P 500 at 5850, the 100-day MA (currently 5820), 5765-5770, and 5600-5670. As long as the S&amp;P 500 remains above 5600-5670, our outlook remains bullish</li>
</ul>


Rising DXY, Treasury yields, and now energy commodities breaking out (Bloomberg Commodity index $DJP and WTI crude oil) suggests upside is likely to be capped, but...
...we still continue to see many other risk-on signals. As a result, we view this pullback as a buying opportunity, with all the major indexes testing/holding at support
Looking for support on the S&amp;P 500 at 5850, the 100-day MA (currently 5820), 5765-5770, and 5600-5670. As long as the S&amp;P 500 remains above 5600-5670, our outlook remains bullish


S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 Testing Bull Flag Supports; Bullish Breadth Divergences; Buy the Pullback

<ul><li>WTR-CMI in 2024. Last year was difficult for specialty chemicals and materials stocks, with our WTR-CMI Index posting a rather modest 5% gain for the year, affected by &gt;40% Y/Y declines in lithium stocks.</li><li>The index’s performance was well off the pace of the Russell 2000 and S&amp;P 500, which posted returns of 10.8% and 24%, respectively, driven by the extraordinary gains of the “magnificent seven” tech and media stocks.</li><li>On a positive note, RYAM’s stock price nearly doubled during the year, driven by an <span style="font-size: var(--content-font-size);">improving pricing environment, better sales mix, and cost </span>containment efforts, as well as the ramp-up of the company’s Biomaterials business. </li></ul>

WTR-CMI in 2024. Last year was difficult for specialty chemicals and materials stocks, with our WTR-CMI Index posting a rather modest 5% gain for the year, affected by &gt;40% Y/Y declines in lithium stocks.The index’s performance was well off the pace of the Russell 2000 and S&amp;P 500, which posted returns of 10.8% and 24%, respectively, driven by the extraordinary gains of the “magnificent seven” tech and media stocks.On a positive note, RYAM’s stock price nearly doubled during the year, driven by an improving pricing environment, better sales mix, and cost containment efforts, as well as the ramp-up of the company’s Biomaterials business. 

Mat-Chem Notes - Looking Ahead by Looking Back at 2024

United States

The Russell 2000 Index is comprised of the smallest 2000 companies in the Russell 3000 Index, representing approximately 8% of the Russell 3000 total market capitalization. The index was developed with a base value of 135.00 as of December 31, 1986.

Russell 2000 Index (RTY INDEX)

Sustainable Investing Surveyor Focus on FutureFuel (FF)

The WTR Sustainable Index was down 0.2% W/W versus the S&P 500 Index (up 1.5%), the Russell 2000 Index (flat) and the Nasdaq Index (up 2.9%).

Water Tower Research

Weekly Sustainable Investing Surveyor - February 10, 2025

The WTR Sustainable Index was up 0.5% W/W versus the S&P 500 Index (down 0.2%), the Russell 2000 Index (down 0.3%) and the Nasdaq Index (up 0.1%).

Water Tower Research

Local Tops for 10-Year Treasury Yield, DXY, and Crude Oil; All Major Indexes Breaking Out. Bullish

Local Tops for 10-Yr Treasury Yield $TNX, U.S. Dollar $DXY, & WTI Crude Oil $CL_F, Now Tailwinds for Equities; All Major Indexes We Discussed...

Vermilion Research

S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 Testing Bull Flag Supports; Bullish Breadth Divergences; Buy the Pullback

$SPX and $QQQ $NDX Testing Bull Flag Supports; Bullish Breadth Divergences (SPX and $IWM % above 20-dma); All Major Indexes Above Key Supports $DJI...

Vermilion Research

Mat-Chem Notes - Looking Ahead by Looking Back at 2024

Last year was difficult for specialty chemicals and materials stocks, with our WTR-CMI Index posting a rather modest 5% gain for the year, affected...

Water Tower Research