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The Vickers Top Insider Picks is a daily report that utilizes a proprietary algorithm to identify 25 companies with compelling insider purchase histories based on transactions over the past three months.

Chevron is an integrated energy company with exploration, production, and refining operations worldwide. It is the second-largest oil company in the United States with production of 3.1 million of barrels of oil equivalent a day, including 7.7 million cubic feet a day of natural gas and 1.8 million of barrels of liquids a day. Production activities take place in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Its refineries are in the US and Asia for total refining capacity of 1.8 million barrels of oil a day. Proven reserves at year-end 2023 stood at 11.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, including 6.0 billion barrels of liquids and 30.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The Argus team of analysts has presented its Best Picks for 2025. Each analyst surveyed their coverage universe, reviewed forward-looking indicators for those companies, and made decisions about which seemingly have the most growth and investment promise for the year. Our team is deeply experienced, as each analyst has spent on average 25 years on Wall Street and 15 years at Argus Research. As such, they are well-versed in our proprietary fundamental six-point valuation process and have deep knowledge of the sectors they cover. They also have solid relationships with many of the management teams they cover. The Argus Investment Policy Committee, made up of our most senior staff, is comprised of Jim Kelleher, CFA, our director of research; President John Eade; Senior Fixed-Income Analyst Kevin Heal, Director of Financial Institutions Research Steve Biggar, and Chris Graja, CFA, our senior economist. The committee provides macro outlooks for the economy, interest rates, earnings, and the stock market. Here is the Argus Best Picks list for 2025.

The stock market had another tough week, as all the major indices closed Friday at both daily and weekly lows. So far, the price damage generally has been minimal, with the S&P 500 (SPX) down 4.3% from its December 6 closing high, the Nasdaq off 5% from its December 16 high, the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) 5.6% below its December 16 high, the S&P MidCap 400 dropping 8.5% since its November 25 high, and the S&P SmallCap 600 (again seeing the worst of the pullback) declining 10.5% from its November 25 closing high. The SPX closed at important intermediate-term support from its 21-week exponential moving average (EMA), which sits at 5,816. The index has not closed below its 21-week EMA since October 2023, and that lasted only two weeks. The weekly Parabolic SAR (a time- and price-based system) turned bearish a few weeks ago for the first time since the last pullback, which started in July 2024. The SPX has seen a slight break of its weekly middle Bollinger Band, as the lower band is down in the 5,500 area. The cumulative number of new NYSE highs minus new lows has rolled over and is not far from breaking its 50-day average, a reliable sell signal. Breadth continues to fall into uncomfortable territory, as 51% of SPX stocks are above their 200-day average, not far from the 45% danger zone. For the S&P 100, the reading is above 56%, while the Nasdaq 100 is at 55%. The weekly NYSE-Hayes High-Low Signal is warning of more downside. With Friday's SPX close below 5,869, we could see a very important test of the last major breakout level near 5,650. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)