MarketBeat: Week in Review 12-27 – 12/31

The major exchanges are all slightly down from the all-time highs set earlier in the week. Still, the overall sentiment is bullish as the calendar gets ready to turn to 2022. And the first trading week of the New Year ends with information on the U.S. labor market. If the non-farm payroll (NFP) report is as positive as some leading indicators suggest it may be, investors could get an additional signal to drive stocks higher. Next week will likely see an increase in market volume as institutional investors return to the market. And the MarketBeat team will be watching over the stocks and stories that will be making news as we ring in the New Year.

Articles by Sean Sechler                                                                                                                                                                

The beginning of a new year is a time when investors focus in on adding stocks with the potential to be winners. However, as Sean Sechler notes that is not always easy to do. One strategy that Sechler promotes is to look for leading stocks in sectors that are heating up. With that in mind, Sechler identified three stocks that are likely to rip higher in 2022. This is also a time when investors need to look at beaten-down stocks that are poised for a comeback. Sechler gave investors three comeback stocks to watch for in 2022. Sechler also took a close look at the automotive sector and theorized that if the worst of the supply chain crisis is behind the industry, it could provide a setup for strong gains. And that would be good news for the three automotive stocks that Sechler identified in this article.

Articles by Jea Yu                                                                     

For investors looking for a different way to play the semiconductor sector, Jea Yu suggests checking out the recent rally in Photronics (NASDAQ: PLAB) stock. The company makes photomasks that are integral to the design of integrated circuits and flat panel displays. As Yu points out the company is experiencing strong demand that is setting up PLAB stock to take its next step higher. Yu was also looking at Elastic (NYSE: ESTC) as a comeback stock. The data search and analytics platform is trading near 2021 lows, but the sell-off looks overdone and investors should still take note of the company’s double-digit top-line growth which should remain strong. Another tech stock that is under pressure is the cloud-based cybersecurity solutions provider Crowdstrike (NASDAQ: CRWD). However, this is another case of a sell-off that looks overdone as demand for cybersecurity will continue to grow.

Articles by Thomas Hughes

It stands to reason that the desire for empirical research on stocks is fueling the rise in FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS). And Thomas Hughes points out that the stock is showing both fundamental and technical strength that is likely to provide a substantial gain in early 2022. Another stock that looks ready to push higher is Braze (NASDAQ: BRZE). The customer engagement platform went public via an IPO in November. And like many recent IPOs lost its initial steam. However, as Hughes points out a recent earnings report with strong guidance is likely to turn sentiment bullish. And while demand for clean energy solutions is on the rise, FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL) is being left out of the rally. The manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells may have a long-term narrative, but that story is not showing up in the company’s near-term results.

Articles by Sam Quirke

Sam Quirke had his eyes on semiconductor stocks which continue to rally as 2021 comes to a close. Micron (NASDAQ: MU) is surging higher on the back of a strong earnings report and even stronger guidance. It was the latter that is drawing bullish sentiment from the analyst community and fueling the year-end rally in MU stock. But Micron isn’t the only high-performing name in the chip sector. And in a follow-up article, Quirke made a case for both Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Shifting his attention to a sector that’s making news for less favorable reasons, Quirke was looking at two airline stocks that continue to struggle as the industry suffers an uneven recovery. Still Quirke made a case for why American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) and Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL) may be worth scooping up.

Articles by Chris Markoch

Sometimes stocks have to make several attempts before pushing through a level of resistance. That was the situation that Chris Markoch saw for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) which recently came up against its 52-week high for the third time in the last month and why this could be one time when the third time is a charm. And as investors begin to turn their attention to the New Year, Markoch was writing about three sectors that investors must pay attention to in 2022. Each sector was a strong performer in 2021 and has a catalyst that should allow the growth to continue in 2022.

Articles by Kate Stalter

Kate Stalter also had her eyes on the outlook for the semiconductor sector in 2022. A benchmark index is up over 47% this year. And as impressive as that is, it’s lower than the returns for the same index in both 2019 and 2020. The summary is that the sector looks overextended, but investors who rely on traditional metrics like price/earnings (P/E) ration may be missing the sector’s strength.  And for investors who are more attuned to technical analysis, Stalter outlined why Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH), ArcBest (NASDAQ: ARCB) , and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) appear to be forming buy points after a period of constructive consolidation.  

Articles by Melissa Brock

The start of a new year renews the debate over whether growth investing or value investing is a better strategy. As Melissa Brock writes the answer for most investors is to take a “both/and” approach. In this article, Brock outlined the merits of growth investing, how to select growth stocks, and the red flags to avoid. For value investors, Brock wrote this article that explains to value investors how to conduct fundamental analysis, how to ensure they are buying companies, not stocks, and to buy the stocks with the idea of holding on for the long haul.