Argus has published its latest Portfolio Selector, which features its popular Focus List. Each month, Director of Research Jim Kelleher, CFA, surveys the team of Argus Research industry analysts for their timeliest recommendations out of the company's fundamental universe of approximately 500 stocks. The Focus List typically includes 30 stocks: turnover is high, as Jim typically adds three or four new stocks per month. Below are the latest additions, all of which are rated BUY at Argus.

Wars -- particularly in the oil-rich Mideast -- have a way of worrying inflation watchers. In the current situation, oil prices have jumped sharply since the fighting began, and we are now seeing the impact of higher energy prices spreading to almost every sector of the economy. Let's take a look at the numbers. First, according to last week's CPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), gasoline prices are up almost 30% over the past year as the price of a barrel of crude oil has soared this spring to above $100 from a low of $55 late last year. Prices in the broad energy category are up 18% in the past year, including a 6% climb in electricity prices. Moving along the value chain, transport prices are higher by 4.3%, which is an increase from the 4.1% inflation rate a month ago; and apparel prices are rising at a 4.2% pace compared to the prior month's 3.4% increase. Hungry? Food prices are going up, too. Food prices last month rose at a 3.2% rate compared to a 2.7% rate a month ago. Is anything lower? Not much, but we do note that prices for medical care services rose at "only" a 3.2% rate last month, down from 3.7% a month earlier. Maybe that's because consumers are starting to tighten their belts and are cutting back on visits to the doctor. One bright spot: used car prices are down 2.7% year over year. But it will cost you more to fill that clunker's tank.

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 AbbVie Inc (ABBV); Applovin Corp (APP); Nokia Oyj (NOK); Ulta Beauty Inc (ULTA) and the Focus List deletions are Salesforce Inc (CRM); DoorDash Inc (DASH); International Business Machine (IBM); IQVIA Holdings Inc (IQV).

AbbVie, a research-based biopharmaceutical company, was spun off from Abbott Laboratories in January 2013. The company is based in suburban Chicago. The shares are a component of the S&P 500.