Amid the vast list in today's Your Weekly Review, large-cap stocks are far in the minority. Yet they deserve attention for several reasons. Trading liquidity is important. Big caps have it. Check this by going either to a stock's chart or viewing its IBD Stock Checkup at investors.com (see the "Technical Performance" section). The average volume ideally is 500,000 shares or more. Dollar volume — share volume times the share price — should be hefty, preferably at least $25 million.
Large caps tend to show less day-to-day volatility, except when they trigger sell signals. The steep sell-off in Disney (NYSE:DIS) (not in this week's YWR) is a clear violation of the 50-day moving average and a must-sell situation for new buyers.
Finally, large caps with outstanding products, management and financial discipline, plus a competitive position in a growth industry, stand a good chance of becoming megacaps. In other words, a company with a $15 billion market cap — IBD's general definition of a large cap — could go on to grow to $50 billion, $100 billion or more.
Sportswear and shoe king Nike (NYSE:NKE) ($98 billion) has logged nine up weeks in a row, a key sign of robust institutional demand. A pullback wouldn't be surprising. The stock is up as much as 46% since clearing an 80.40 buy point in early September.
HCA Holdings (NYSE:HCA), part of the No. 2-ranked Medical-Hospitals group, stands near the top of Friday's YWR tables. It has a market value of $38 billion and was No. 1 in last week's list. The stock dipped briefly below its 10-week moving average on Wednesday after reporting flat earnings for Q2. The stock's long-term trend has been superb since HCA initially broke out near 32 in January 2013.
Animal health firm Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) ($24 billion) is testing support at its 10-week line.
Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) ($15 billion) is undercutting its 10-week line in heavy trade. Further weakness would trigger a sell signal for long-term holders in the stock.
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