The end of the year is here, and but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the stock market. While the volatility certainly has dried up a bit along with volume there are still many stocks you should be paying attention to.
With the New Year around the corner, that doesn’t mean that we should reinvent the wheel when it comes to our stock picking.
Back to the well I go to find stocks with great momentum that are Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) which are breaking out to new highs.
It’s a strategy that’s worked great for us during 2015 and will continue to work in 2016.
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Running my screen today, I found 23 stocks that meet our criteria.
Here I’ve cut that list down to 5 great stock ideas you can add today then cash out in the New Year for profits. These stocks have showed continued strength in a sideways market.
Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH)
Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) provides management consulting, technology, and engineering services to corporations, institutions, not-for-profit organizations, and the U.S. government in defense, intelligence, and civil markets in the United States and internationally. Its acquisition, program management, and logistics capabilities include strategy development, policy support, logistics management, staff development and deployment, modeling and simulation, testing and validation, information assurance, and data management services, which help clients for various operational programs.
A huge uptick in volume meant the bottom for shares of BAH just below $24 in May. From there, shares seesawed their way to a top at $28. Solid earnings aided a breakout from that level in October. Since then the stock has continued in a slow bullish trend with the bottom end of the range sitting above a high volume node at $29.
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Bruker (BRKR)
Bruker (BRKR), together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and services proprietary life science and materials research systems, and associated products worldwide. It operates through two segments, Bruker Scientific Instruments, and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies. The company offers life science and materials research systems and associated products used in life science research, pharmaceuticals, applied markets, nanotechnology, cell biology, clinical research, microbiology, and in-vitro diagnostics.
Summertime was rough for BRKR as shares plummeted from over $21 to below $16 in two short months. From that bottom, however, shares have rebounded nicely, adding over 50% from the lows. A breakout from a then 52-week high near $23 pulled back to the 21-day moving average before breaking higher to new highs over the last couple of weeks. An overbought Commodity Channel Index (CCI) at 112 is a short term concern but support still seems to be solid below $23.
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Carnival Corp (CCL)
Carnival (CCL) operates as a cruise company worldwide. It provides vacations to various cruise destinations. The company offers cruise services under the Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn brand names in North America; and AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, and P&O Cruises names in Europe, Australia, and Asia. It operates 100 cruise ships. It also owns and operates 12 hotels or lodges, and approximately 300 motor coaches and 20 glass-domed railcars.
Shares of Carnival have been doing well, along with the rest of the industry. While volume has remained relatively steady throughout the year, prices have inched upwards. Currently the stock is bumping up against the top end of the trading range at the 52-week high in the $54s. If shares fail to leapfrog this level, a pullback to $51 should be bought.
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Heartland Payment (HPY)
Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) provides payment processing services in the United States. It offers end-to-end electronic payment processing services to merchants by facilitating the exchange of information and funds between them and cardholders financial institutions; and undertakes merchant set-up and training, transaction authorization and electronic draft capture, clearing and settlement, merchant accounting, merchant assistance and support, and risk management services.
I had to do a double to make sure my charts weren’t off when I took my first look at HPY. After bouncing along between $47 and $55 for the first half of the year, the stock caught fire, pushing up to a new high below $65 before retreating to the top end of the previous range in mid-August. From there, shares have been on a rampage, nearly doubling, while volumes have skyrocketed as well. Today shares are threatening to make a run at the century mark. The CCI has calmed a bit from 400 to 72.8 but still remains oversold. With the 21-day sitting down at $85.26 there is some risk of a wild pullback. The top end of the earnings gap sits at $93.32.
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Weibo (WB)
Weibo (WB) operates as a social media platform for people to create, distribute, and discover Chinese-language content. The company operates through two segments, Advertising and Marketing Services, and Other Services. It offers self-expression products that enable its users to express themselves on its platform; social products to promote social interaction between users on its platform; discovery products to help users discover content on its platform; and notifications to notify users on Weibo account activities through SMS or push notification on their device.
This play is certainly on the risky side of things. That risk in evident in the volatility in shares over the last several months. After peaking above $20 in June, shares slid to fresh lows under $9 in mid-August. As the broad market rebounded, so did WB. Shares quickly bounced to resistance below $14 but were able to leapfrog this level on strong volume in October. From there we’ve seen a steady climb to the previous highs. The question now is, can the stock breakout from those highs and push higher? To the downside, stops could be placed at $18, providing a favorable risk versus reward scenario for the stock.
The Bottom Line on Stocks to Buy
The calendar will be turning over the page to 2016 soon but that doesn’t mean you need to turn the page on your investing. The investing tricks of last year may be the perfect asset to start the year in the green. By coupling our Zacks Rank with stocks that are breaking out on momentum, you can find the hottest stocks to buy now.
Be sure to click FOLLOW THE AUTHOR above to stay on top of all the hot momentum stocks at Zacks.com. David Bartosiak is the Momentum Stock Strategist with Zacks, editor of the Momentum Trader and Home Run Investor, and host of “Trending Stocks”
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WEIBO CORP ADS (WB): Free Stock Analysis Report
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BOOZ ALLEN HMLT (BAH): Free Stock Analysis Report
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