55 Trades to Make Before Earnings Season Ends

by Louis Navellier | February 25, 2014 12:00 pm

The S&P 500 is once again trading at record highs and it’s clear what’s behind it: Earnings season.

About 80% of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting their latest quarterly results, and this earnings season has so far been the best in nearly three years. Monday’s big earnings winners include GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT[1]) and Caesars Entertainment (CZR[2]), which are both B-rated buys in Portfolio Grader.

Of course, not all companies performed well —there were also a string of disappointing earnings reports. Notable names include Dillard’s (DDS[3]), MagnaChip Semiconductor (MX[4]) and Armstrong World Industries (AWI[5]). Then again, perhaps this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise—even before these earnings announcements each of these stocks was D-rated in Portfolio Grader.

Today is just further proof of the importance of constantly checking your portfolio for weak areas and profit opportunities. To get a pulse on the latest buying opportunities (and the stocks you should now avoid), let’s look at these stocks which have been upgraded and downgraded this weekend.

Over the weekend I noticed 55 big-name stocks were on the move and have revised their ratings to reflect the latest data. Let’s take a look:

55 Recommendations Straight Out of Portfolio Grader[6]

Upgrades

Last Week’s Holds, Now Buys

Symbol	Company Name	Quantitative Grade	Fundamental Grade
AKAM[7]	Akamai Technologies	B	B
BAC[8]	Bank of America	B	B
GPS[9]	Gap	B	B
HP[10]	Helmerich & Payne	B	B
INTU[11]	Intuit	B	C
LBTYK[12]	Liberty Global Plc Class C	B	C
MDT[13]	Medtronic	B	B
PCYC[14]	Pharmacyclics	B	C
STX[15]	Seagate Technology PLC	B	C

Last Week’s Sells, Now Holds

MON

Symbol	Company Name	Quantitative Grade	Fundamental Grade
CF[16]	CF Industries Holdings	C	C
CMI[17]	Cummins	D	C
CPB[18]	Campbell Soup	D	C
CX[19]	Cemex SAB de CV Sponsored ADR	C	D
CXO[20]	Concho Resources	C	C
EMN[21]	Eastman Chemical	D	B
GM[22]	General Motors	C	D
KRFT[23]	Kraft Foods Group	D	B
LLY[24]	Eli Lilly	D	C
LMCA[25]	Liberty Media Corp. Class A	C	C
MJN[26]	Mead Johnson Nutrition	D	C
Monsanto	D	C
TXT[27]	Textron	D	C

Downgrades

Last Week’s Buys, Now Holds

BBTMMMNSC

Symbol	Company Name	Quantitative Grade	Fundamental Grade
AFL[28]	Aflac	C	C
ATVI[29]	Activision Blizzard	C	C
BB&T Corporation	C	C
CMCSA[30]	Comcast Corporation Class A	C	B
ICE[31]	IntercontinentalExchange Group	B	D
KEY[32]	KeyCorp	C	C
MMC[33]	Marsh & McLennan	C	C
3M	C	B
MWE[34]	MarkWest Energy Partners	B	D
Norfolk Southern	C	B
OMC[35]	Omnicom Group	C	C
PBA[36]	Pembina Pipeline	C	C
PCP[37]	Precision Castparts	C	B
RF[38]	Regions Financial	C	C
SIAL[39]	Sigma-Aldrich	C	C
XRX[40]	Xerox	C	C

Last Week’s Holds, Now Sells

Symbol	Company Name	Quantitative Grade	Fundamental Grade
AMZN[41]	Amazon.com	D	C
CCI[42]	Crown Castle International	D	B
CL[43]	Colgate-Palmolive	D	C
CLX[44]	Clorox	D	C
DTE[45]	DTE Energy	D	C
ETR[46]	Entergy	D	C
GIS[47]	General Mills	D	C
IP[48]	International Paper	D	C
JPM[49]	JPMorgan Chase	D	C
PAA[50]	Plains All American Pipeline, L.P.	D	C
PEP[51]	PepsiCo,	D	C
PSA[52]	Public Storage	D	B
ROP[53]	Roper Industries	D	B
RY[54]	Royal Bank of Canada	D	C
SWK[55]	Stanley Black & Decker	D	C
TS[56]	Tenaris S.A. Sponsored ADR	F	D
WM[57]	Waste Management	D	D

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/02/55-trades-make-earnings-season-ends/

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