The Dow, S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq were all trading up Friday late morning despite weekly jobless claims that came in above 1 million: The market didn’t care because tech stocks are leading this rally and they offset other dismal reporting.
The Dow had gained over 80 points by late morning ...
The S&P 500 had gained 6 points ...
And the Nasdaq had gained over 56 points, riding high on its tech stocks.
Here are 5 stocks to play right now in this market:
#1 Netflix (NYSE:NFLX)
If you want a sure thing, go with Netflix, whose shares are one-directional in this pandemic: UP. But they’ve been one-directional for five years. For 2020, this is the only stock on the S&P 500 that has risen every month, without fail, and is up 54% for the year. It consistently outperforms the S&P 500.
And it’s not smoke and mirrors: There are real fundamentals backing this one up, with profit guidance up 49% for 2020.
According to Ensemble Capital, Neftlix “streaming revenue is estimated to triple from $8 billion in 2016 to almost $25 billion dollars in 2020. Operating margins are expected to increase from 4% to 16%. And we believe that margins can continue to grow for several years as the international markets mature, just as we’ve seen them do in the US market.”
#2 Apple (NASDAQ:APPL)
If you haven’t already jumped on this ship, that’s too bad, but it’s still worth sailing, and now is even easier to own since its recent stock split. And for the first time, Apple just closed above $2 trillion. That makes this the very first US company to hit the $2 trillion mark.
As we speak, Apple is trading over $491:
That’s all all-time high and Wall Street can’t get enough of it. The bulls, which are large in number, this is still a buy and could rally over 60%.
Apple’s 4-1 stock split takes effect on August 31st.
#3 Dollar General (NYSE:DG)
This isn’t a high-flying tech stock, but it could be a recovery play. We have some concerns about this stock in the long term because it hasn’t latched on to e-commerce with the same gusto as have giants Walmart and Target, for instance, but you can’t ignore the fact that shares are up 28% this year, and despite the pandemic, are still only slightly before their $200 share highs. It’s also worth noting that it trades at an industry discount.
Dollar General has a 99 Composite Rating (the highest) and has the lead over other discount retailers such as Ollie’s Bargain Outlet and Big Lots.
#4 Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) It’s a good time to buy gold, but the miners are the best way to play this. Since Buffett’s scooping up of Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) in Q2, it’s worth looking at other miners who might benefit from the safe haven surge and the momentum miners get just from having Buffett money in the industry.
Related: Uber, Lyft Threatening ‘Strike’ As California Crushes Ride-Hailing
Wheaton is trending solidly since March and while we don’t expect a sudden surge, of the gold miners, this one isn’t yet overbought and looks set to move steadily forward. There appears to be potential upside to this one and gold rounds out the portfolio nicely.
#5 Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Nvidia stop is fundamentally stunning right now following 14% gains for the past four sessions. The company has now hit a record $300 billion market cap, and analysts see it easily becoming the Apple of data centers.
So far this year, shares are up over 100%, by far outperforming the semiconductor index.
Bank of America says Nvidia could surge another 24% and become the first in the semiconductor industry to hit $500 billion.
And analysts (Vivek Arya) have upped their price target from $520 to $600.
By Michael Kern for Safehaven.com
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