Best Stocks to buy today – Expert Stock Picks of The Week By StockXpo

Merry Christmas to all Traders, Investors, Analysts!!!! This week we are publishing our article early on Thursday as the stock market will be closed tomorrow observing Christmas day and even closing early today due to Christmas Eve!!!! In our strategy balancing the portfolio on weekly basis is very important so here we are with our recommendations.

This week we got some news that various vaccines are on trial and the US FDA could have enough coronavirus vaccine doses for every American by March 2021. These include vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, which are all in late-stage testing. Also, on the other positive side of the news is that Jobless claims have been improving. With these two major updates, the stock market moved higher.

If you are a regular reader, you may be already aware, we recommend 10-12 stocks in 3 different categories here to fit different trading styles and strategies. If you are new, Welcome! Visit our portal often to get all relevant information about stocks and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get all useful information about stock investing. We hope that you love our articles and get all useful tips and information. We also recommend to follow our Stock Picks category where we publish handpicked stocks to trade for swing trading and balancing your portfolio every Friday.

Here we are again with our this week’s recommendations. Please note that overall the market was very much on the up side, and whether you are following our recommendations or not, I am sure if you have been trading this week ending today then you must have collected a lot of profits. If not, and your results are mixed or you are worried about pandemic and other unpredictable market conditions, add the swing trading to your trading strategy and get started to follow our recommendations. We are going to publish the performance results for the last few months and this year to date, to give you some ideas how our strategy has been doing compared against the S&P 500 and other major indexes. 

Now let’s look at our picks for this week.

StockXpo’s SkyRocket Strategy

If you’re following us, you might already be aware that in this strategy we try to find the stocks which have a strong fundamental track record and have strong buy or buy ratings from top analyst firms. Moreover, these stocks break through their 8 week high and even 52 week high, so with their strong fundamental track record, there is a good potential for these stocks to go even higher.

For this week, here are our picks. $CMD, $BIDU and $CASH. Please note that – compared to last week, we have removed  $AVNW, $AOSL and $UCTT.

$CMD(Cantel Med Corp) – Cantel Medical Corp. engages in the development and manufacture of infection prevention products and services in the healthcare market. It operates through the following business segments: Medical, Life Sciences, Dental and Dialysis. The Medical segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells and installs a comprehensive offering of products and services comprising a complete circle of infection prevention solutions. The Life Sciences segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells and installs water purification systems for medical,pharmaceutical and other bacteria controlled applications. The Dental segment designs, manufactures, sells, supplies and distributes a broad selection of infection prevention healthcare products, the majority of which are single-use products used by dental practitioners.

Cantel Medical  is one such stock that our proprietary system currently recommends. The company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Rank.

Studies have shown that stocks with the best growth features consistently outperform the market.

$BIDU(Baidu Inc) – Baidu, Inc. engages in the provision of internet search and online marketing solutions. The firm’s products and services include Baidu App, Baidu Search, Baidu Feed, Haokan, Quanmin, Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baidu Input Method Editor or Baidu IME and Overseas Products. It operates through the following segments: Baidu Core and iQIYI. The Baidu Core segment offers keyword-based marketing services. The iQiyi segment provides online advertising services. The company was founded by Yanhong Li and Xu Yong on January 18, 2000 and is headquartered in Beijing, China. Stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? By taking a look at the stock’s year-to-date performance in comparison to its Computer and Technology peers, we might be able to answer that question. BIDU’s full-year earnings have moved 43.52% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, BIDU has moved about 46.76% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Computer and Technology stocks have gained an average of 38.48%. As we can see, Baidu is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

$CASH(Meta Financial Group) – Meta Financial Group, Inc. operates as a financial holding company, which provides savings and loan services. The firm operates through the following business segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Corporate Services & Other. The Consumer segment provides meta payment systems (MPS), consumer credit products, warehouse finance and other tax services. The Commercial segment includes crestmark and AFS divisions. The Corporate Services & Other segment consists of certain shared services, treasury, retained community bank portfolio and student loan lending portfolio. The company was founded on June 14, 1993 and is headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD.It operates as the holding company for MetaBank that offers various banking products and services in the United States. It operates through three segments, namely, Consumer, Commercial, and Corporate Services/Other. The Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings increased 13.4% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the current year is 29.2%.

StockXpo’s – ValueGrowth Strategy

As you know, this is more like Buffett’s Value Strategy, but our stock picking criteria is to pick the top 3 out of such value stocks. Moreover, we are more likely to hold them for short term not long term. Our backtesting suggests that weekly balancing gives very good results week over week and year over year, it can grow your portfolio exponentially if you just consistently follow these strategies. Our Stock Picks for this week are $REI, $CMD and $PERI. We have finally removed $POR. Regardless of fall of the stock market due to COVID-19 fears, we have still booked some profit before they are wiped out from these stocks.

$CMD(Cantel Med Corp) – Cantel Medical Corp. engages in the development and manufacture of infection prevention products and services in the healthcare market. It operates through the following business segments: Medical, Life Sciences, Dental and Dialysis. The Medical segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells and installs a comprehensive offering of products and services comprising a complete circle of infection prevention solutions. The Life Sciences segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells and installs water purification systems for medical,pharmaceutical and other bacteria controlled applications. The Dental segment designs, manufactures, sells, supplies and distributes a broad selection of infection prevention healthcare products, the majority of which are single-use products used by dental practitioners.Cantel Medical  is one such stock that our proprietary system currently recommends. The company not only has a favorable Growth Score, but also carries a top Rank.Studies have shown that stocks with the best growth features consistently outperform the market.

Don’t miss: Best Stocks to buy for Swing Trading Today – Expert Stock Picks of the week by StockXpo

$PERI(Perion Network) – Perion Network Ltd. is a global technology company, which engages in the provision of advertising solutions to brands and publishers through innovative platforms. It is committed to providing data-driven execution, from high-impact ad formats to branded search and a unified social and mobile programmatic platform. It offers the following business solutions: Undertone, which connects brands to consumers using engaging creatives; Code Fuel, which enables developers to optimize search traffic and generate incremental revenue; MakeMeReach, an automated social management platform that help ad performance across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat; and Smilebox, a desktop and mobile applications. The company was founded by Ofer Adler and Yaron Adler in November 1999 and is headquartered in Holon, Israel.

Perion is a Rank #3 (Hold) in the Internet – Content industry that ranks in the Bottom 35% of our Industry Rank. Over the last 30 days, two analysts have increased their earnings estimates for the current quarter, while none have revised their estimates downward. The net effect has taken our Consensus Estimate for the current quarter from 12 cents per share to 19 cents in that period.

$REI(Ring Energy Inc) – Ring Energy, Inc. is an oil and gas exploration company which engages in oil and natural gas acquisition, exploration, development and production activities. The firm’s areas of operation are in the Permian Basin; the Central Basin Platform and the Delaware Basin. The company was founded by Lloyd T. Rochford and Stanley M. McCabe on July 30, 2004 and is headquartered in Midland, TX.came out with quarterly earnings of $0.05 per share, beating the Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.02 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.12 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 350%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this independent oil and gas company would post earnings of $0.02 per share when it actually produced a loss of $0.02, delivering a surprise of -200%.Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

StockXpo’s TechFund Strategy

This is the most active category and we give a lot of preference here to stocks which have strong technical and strong fundamental current and past track records. That’s why we call it TechFund (TAFA) strategy. Just like other strategies, we pick these companies here for weekly based swing trade recommendations. 

Please note that we have removed $DCO, $AOSL, $AVNW, $DGII , $TTEC and $SRLP from this strategy picks. We have added $AVT, $BSET, $BIDU, $CLDR, $ZUO and $USIO. We are continuing to hold on to $EMKR.

$AVT(Avnet) – Avnet, Inc. engages in the distribution and sale of electronic components. It operates through the Electronics Components and Farnell segments. The Electronics Components segment markets and sells semiconductors, interconnect, passive and electromechanical devices, and integrated components. The Farnell segment involves in the distribution of electronic components and related products to the electronic system design community utilizing multi-channel sales and marketing resources. The company was founded by Charles Avnet in 1921 and is headquartered in Phoenix, AZ.recently announced the addition of CircuitByte’s “DistiDirect" support in the newly released bill-of-materials (BOM) price calculation and purchasing tool.

$BSET(Bassett Furniture):- Bassett Furniture Industries, Inc. manufactures, markets and retails home furnishings. It operates through the following segments: Wholesale, Retail, and Logistical Services. The Wholesale segment focuses on the design, manufacture, sourcing, sale and distribution of furniture products. The Retail segment consists of local furniture stores, regional furniture retailers, national department, chain stores and single-vendor branded retailers. The Logistical Services segment offers shipping, delivery, and warehousing services. The company was founded by John David Bassett, Sr. in 1902 and is headquartered in Bassett, manufactures, markets and retails home furnishing in the United States. The company currently has a Rank #1. The Consensus Estimate for next-year earnings increased 43.8% over the past 60 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for next year is more than 100%.

$EMKR(Emcore Corp) – EMCORE Corp. engages in the manufacture and provision of mixed-signal optics products. It offers catv broadband transport and access; lasers and components; chip level devices; satellite RF fiber optic transport; wireless/distributed antenna systems; microwave components; fiber optics gyros, sensors, and navigation systems. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Alhambra, CA.Meanwhile, EMCORE is actually looking pretty good on its own too. The firm has seen solid earnings estimate revision activity over the past month, suggesting analysts are becoming a bit more bullish on the firm’s prospects in both the short and long term.In fact, over the past month, current quarter estimates have risen from 3 cents per share to 9 cents per share, while current year estimates have risen from 14 cents per share to 31 cents per share. This has helped EMKR to earn a  Rank #2 (Buy), further underscoring the company’s solid position. So, if you are looking for a decent pick in a strong industry, consider EMCORE. Not only is its industry currently in the top third, but it is seeing solid estimate revisions as of late, suggesting it could be a very interesting choice for investors seeking a name in this great industry segment.

$BIDU(Baidu Inc) – Baidu, Inc. engages in the provision of internet search and online marketing solutions. The firm’s products and services include Baidu App, Baidu Search, Baidu Feed, Haokan, Quanmin, Baidu Post Bar, Baidu Knows, Baidu Encyclopedia, Baidu Input Method Editor or Baidu IME and Overseas Products. It operates through the following segments: Baidu Core and iQIYI. The Baidu Core segment offers keyword-based marketing services. The iQiyi segment provides online advertising services. The company was founded by Yanhong Li and Xu Yong on January 18, 2000 and is headquartered in Beijing, China. Stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? By taking a look at the stock’s year-to-date performance in comparison to its Computer and Technology peers, we might be able to answer that question. BIDU’s full-year earnings have moved 43.52% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, BIDU has moved about 46.76% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Computer and Technology stocks have gained an average of 38.48%. As we can see, Baidu is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

$CLDR(Cloudera Inc)-.Cloudera, Inc. engages in the provision of enterprise-grade, global data management platforms, services and solutions. It offers enterprise data hub, data warehouse, sata science and engineering, operational database, Cloudera DataFlow, Hortonworks Data Platform, and data science workbench. It operates through Subscription, and Services segments. The company was founded by Amr A. Awadallah, Christophe Bisciglia, Michael Olson and Jeffrey Hammerbacher in June 2008 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA.Cloudera, Inc. Currently has a Rank of #2 (Buy). Our research shows that stocks rated Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and #2 (Buy). It has increased 33.7% over the past quarter, and have gained 23.02% in the last year. On the other hand, the S&P 500 has only moved 11.62% and 16.16%, respectively.

$ZUO(Zuora Inc):- Zuora, Inc. operates as an online subscription billing and management platform. The firm’s products include Zuora Billing, Zuora RevPro, Zuora CPQ and Zuora Collect. Its Central Platform is composed of six core engines: Pricing Engine, Subscription Orders Engine, Rating Engine, Global Payments Engine, Subscription Metrics and Subscription Accounting Engine. It also offers traditional ERP software, such as Oracle Corporation and SAP AG. The company was founded in 2007 by K.V. Rao, Cheng Zou and Tien Tzuo and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA.reported third-quarter fiscal 2021 loss of a penny per share that beat the Consensus Estimate by 80%. The company had reported a loss of 6 cents in the year-ago quarter.Moreover, revenues of $77.2 million beat the consensus mark by 5% and also increased 7.6% year over year.This solid outperformance was led by the robust adoption of the Zuora Central platform. Transaction volumes through Zuora’s billing platform were $14.6 billion, up 31% year over year.

$USIO(Usio Inc)- USIO, Inc. engages in providing integrated payment solutions. It also offers prepaid card processing and program management services for various other card programs including incentive cards for clinical trial recipients, consumer gift cards, rebate cards and various other card programs that can be branded or white labeled. The company was founded by Louis A. Hoch and Michael R. Long in July 1998 and is headquartered in San Antonio, TX.The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

I hope all this information is helping you to buy good stocks for your welfare . See you next Friday. Keep coming to our website for stock related query and information.

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Happy Trading!!!!