MarketBeat: Week in Review 12/14 – 12/18

Although the calendar shows the world is a week away from celebrating the Christmas holiday, investors could be forgiven for feeling it was Groundhog’s Day. The same issues are moving the market. On the one hand, investors can’t be anything but encouraged by the initial vaccine rollout.

The FDA approved the Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) vaccine and vaccinations began this week. Meanwhile on December 18, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) also received FDA approval for its vaccine. This means that in the week before Christmas, we will have not one, but two vaccines being distributed.

But while hope is a powerful drug, we’re in the first quarter of the pandemic’s end. And that means the millions of out-of-work Americans and shuttered businesses are desperately looking to Congress for a stimulus plan. It seems that the grandstanding may be coming to an end. There are no guarantees but an 11th hour deal is looking more and more likely.

Next week will be a short week as the markets pause for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That doesn’t necessarily mean things will be quiet, and the MarketBeat staff will continue to actively track the market and recommend stocks that can help your portfolio prosper in 2021.

Articles by Sean Sechler

2020 will be marked as the year of the initial public offering (IPO). As Sean Sechler writes, there have been over 447 IPOs this year. But investing in a company post-IPO is always a risky endeavor. Sechler helps investors sift through the recent explosion of IPOs with three stocks to watch closely. This year also saw the streaming wars to escalate. But the smart money in 2021 may gravitate towards music stocks which are beginning to find their way in the digital age. Sechler was also reminding investors that investing in dividend stocks does not have to be boring, particularly if investors look at the tech sector. To illustrate that point, he gives investors three dividend stocks with exposure to the tech sector.

Articles by Jea Yu

Jea Yu was writing about a stock that capitalizes on two trends for this year. Tuscan Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:THCB) is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that is bringing an electric vehicle (EV) battery company public. Yu advises that the company, Microvast, may be a compelling alternative to the recently debuted QuantumScape (NYSE:QS) in the lithium-ion battery technology space. Yu was also advising investors of an opportunity to buy Smith Micro Systems (NASDAQ:SMSI) as the stock has almost completely recovered from its pandemic lows and has two popular apps that should continue to provide revenue growth even as the economy re-opens. Another tech company on Yu’s radar was Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ:PEGA) which provides integrated CRM and BPM applications. The company looks to be a winner in the post-pandemic enterprise space.

Articles by Thomas Hughes

Thomas Hughes was eyeing the continued strength in the housing market as a reason for investors to buy Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN). As Hughes points out, the current data may be mixed, but all signs point to near-term growth for the home builder stock. Hughes was also informing investors about the recent agreement between Camping World (NYSE:CWH) and Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ:RIDE) to capitalize on Americans love for the open road with the movement towards electric vehicles. If this collaboration comes to fruition, investors will be glad they got on board early. And speaking of stocks with the potential to grow, Hughes was writing about three companies who are moving past the concept stage and ramping up to deliver their products at scale. These hyper-growth stockscould fit well in the portfolio of risk-tolerant investors.

Articles by Nick Vasco

Nick Vasco was also looking at the strength in the housing market, but was coming at it from a different direction. That’s why Vasco is a fan of Redfin (NASDAQ:RDFN), an online real estate broker that offers several innovationsincluding using salaried agents to keep commissions low. Vasco cautions that the stock may be a little extended at its current level, but investors can look for opportunistic pullbacks. Vasco also called the blowout earnings by Federal Express (NYSE:FDX) and suggests that more growth is in the works. A similar story looks to be setting up for PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL). Although investors may not get the same growth from PayPal in 2021, the company should still expect growth and cryptocurrency may be the reason.

Articles by Sam Quirke

For the second straight week, Sam Quirke spent a considerable amount of time analyzing tech stocks. Quirke likes what he sees from the Chinese internet search company Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU). The stock recently hit 2-year highs and news that it could be playing a support role in the electric vehicle market is fueling increased speculation. Another stock that Quirke liked was the social game developer Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA). Although analysts perceive that video game stocks may have a rougher 2021 as the economy reopens, but Zynga has a deep catalog and a high economy of scale that should position them well regardless of how the broader sector performs. Quirke was also looking at Skyworks (NASDAQ:SKWS). The semiconductor company is getting a 5G lift by being a supplier for both Samsung and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). And, unlike many stocks in the sector, Skyworks pays a dividend.

Articles by Steve Anderson

An unexpected work-from-home winner was Herman Miller (NASDAQ:MLHR). The designer and manufacturer of premium office furniture posted a solid earnings report. And while a good bit of that was due to cost-containment efforts, the company showed strength in its home office segment that has analysts encouraged enough to give the stock a buy rating. Anderson was also looking at two cannabis stocks Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) and Aphria (NASDAQ:APHA) that announced a merger that will make the new company, under the Tilray name, the world’s largest marijuana production outlet. And in a year of IPO’s, Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) was one of the most highly anticipated. Investors are discovering that IPO’s can be volatile as ABNB stock received a downgrade just days after it began trading publicly. Speculative investors may do well to wait until we get a clearer direction of how fast the pent-up demand will become a reality.