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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 Salesforce Inc (CRM); T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS); Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM); L3Harris Technologies Inc (LHX) and the Focus List deletions are Autozone Inc. (AZO); GE Vernova Inc. (GEV); Netflix Inc (NFLX); Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR).

American Electric Power is a major U.S. investor-owned electric utility with generation, transmission, and distribution operations and eight utility subsidiaries. The company's vertically integrated utilities and distribution utilities deliver electricity to more than 5.6 million customers in 11 states in the Midwest and Southeast. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, with about 23,000 megawatts of generating capacity and 225,000 distribution lines. AEP also owns the nation's largest electricity transmission system, with 40,000 system miles. In 2023, vertical utilities accounted for about 60% of total annual revenue, while transmission and distribution utilities accounted for about 30%. With the 2H23 sale of its competitive generating plant in Ohio, the company has exited the wholesale generation business and left the Ohio competitive electricity market. AEP's 2023 owned generation mix is approximately 45% coal, 13% nuclear, 32% natural gas, and 10% renewables. While still heavily reliant on coal, the company is expanding its use of renewable energy with investments in wind generation. Its current renewable generation capacity is 6,000 MW and it plans to be carbon-zero by 2045. The company's market cap is $50 billion.

Equity investors don't seem to have a lot to worry about as we move toward 2025. Still, there is always something to worry about. As we see it, the big technical issues are the multiple weekly momentum divergences on the S&P 500 (SPX) and the futures positions of the smart money commercial hedgers in the major indices. As well, as of this writing, the Nasdaq and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) are working on only their first weekly momentum divergence. And yes, market participants are pretty bulled up -- especially in the options market. For the SPX, the Chande Trend Meter is a strong 88% and 70% of stocks in the index are above their 200-day average (bullish, yet down from 85% in September and October). As well, the index is at an all-time high; daily and weekly charts are approaching (but are not yet at) overbought momentum territory; the Bullish Percent Index (the percentage of stocks in the index on point-and-figure buy signals) is bullish at 71% (but lower than the 81% from September); the daily and weekly Vortex Indicator are bullish; the slope of the advance is not too steep (as calls for a possible year-end melt-up have not yet materialized); and the advance-decline line and advancing volume-declining volume line on the index are at or near all-time high territory. So if all those technical indicators are positive, is there only one direction for them to go? Well, they can always get even more bullish -- but yes, the above is a legitimate question. Bull markets tend to last longer than many expect and often go further than the fundamental news sometimes suggests is reasonable. December is the trickiest month to trade. Should one sell big winners and pay capital-gains tax or wait until early in the next year? Or sell some losers to offset capital gains? If a portfolio is behind, what can be done to catch up? These questions are asked every December. One option is to fade break-outs (some are working, like AAPL) and buy break-downs. That is basically the opposite of what is usually done during the other 11 months of a bull-market year. At the end of a good year, portfolio managers and RIAs 'can't' sell a certain stock if it's up 100% and subject to large capital-gains taxes. While these big gains can be offset a bit by tax-loss harvesting, many just hold big winners until the next year. Others recognize that the purpose of the investment game is to make big money -- and if that means taxes must be paid, then the job was well done.

Dominion Energy has regulated electric and natural gas utility operations in 13 states. The company generates, transmits, and distributes electricity, and has retail and wholesale operations. Dominion's portfolio consists of 30,200 megawatts of generation capacity, 85,600 miles of electric distribution lines, and 10,600 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion serves 3.6 million electric customers and 500,000 natural gas customers in South Carolina. Its electric service region is primarily Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In 2023, DEV accounted for about 67% of total revenue and DESC accounted for about 24%. The company operates five nuclear generation sites and Dominion's fuel mix is 42% nuclear, though generation still comes from gas, coal, and oil. To change this mix, Dominion is developing offshore wind farms and increasing its use of solar power. However, it does not expect to achieve net-zero emissions until 2050, in line with peers heavily reliant on coal. The company has undergone a business review that ended in March 2024. As a result, it has increased its asset disposals. In 2023 and 2024, the company sold its LNG operations, three gas distribution companies, and an interest in its Virginia wind farm. These divestitures follow the sale of pipeline operations in 2022. Dominion's market cap is $47 billion, and the stock is a component of the S&P 500.