A-rated stocks are the best that you can get. And if you want to buy high-quality stocks as we head into the third quarter, why would you want anything but A-rated stocks to buy?
The Portfolio Grader is the tool to use when looking for A-rated stocks.
It evaluates stocks on various valuable measurements, including earnings, growth, analyst sentiment, momentum, dividends and more. Then it assigns each stock an “A” through an “F” rating – with the A-rated stocks being the best to buy.
The stock market showed solid gains in the year’s first half, but it’s still challenging – interest rates remain elevated and inflation is uncomfortably high. But there are plenty of opportunities for profits in the second half of 2023, and the Portfolio Grader can help lead you in the right direction.
Here are seven great stocks that all get top marks as we head into the back half of the year.
Nvidia (NVDA)
It’s hard not to make any list of stocks to buy in the year’s second half without including chip maker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). Shares are already up 180% in 2023, with the company’s valuation topping $1 trillion.
Why is it fair to think that this run will continue? Surely, NVDA’s gain is tapped out at this point, right?
I don’t think so.
Advances in artificial intelligence, particularly the revolutionary innovation we’re seeing from generative AI models introduced by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are ruling the stock market right now. Companies are scrambling to incorporate AI into their platforms now.
Nvidia raised its revenue guidance for the second quarter from $7.2 billion to an incredible $11 billion based on the increased demand for NVDA chips to power generative AI applications.
Now Nvidia is entering into a partnership with Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) to develop custom AI models and help Snowflake customers create their own AI assistants.
We’re just seeing the beginning of a long bull run for NVDA stock. That’s why it’s getting an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.
Oracle (ORCL)
Computing company Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is another AI player. It’s creating a generative AI cloud service tied to a partnership with a startup, Cohere, using Oracle’s cloud infrastructure.
The company’s second-generation cloud, called Gen2 Cloud, is getting plenty of attention from generative AI customers. CEO Larry Ellison says the Gen2 Cloud “has quickly become the No. 1 choice for running generative AI workloads.”
Revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2023, ending May 31, showed $1.4 billion in cloud infrastructure revenue, an increase of 76% from the previous year. In the last fiscal year, Oracle spent $8.7 billion on capital expenditures to grow its cloud data center network.
ORCL stock is up 44% in 2023 and has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.
Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL)
Nobody could blame you if you thought Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) wouldn’t survive the Covid-19 pandemic. When cruises shut down for over a year, Royal Caribbean and its competitors suffered deep losses with no timetable for when they could return to the seas.
While Covid-19 may be with us forever, vaccines and human resiliency are bringing back cruise line stock in a big way. Royal Caribbean stock is up 108% in 2023 and nearly 220% since bottoming out in the spring of 2020.
Earnings for the first quarter included $2.89 billion in revenue, up 172% from a year before. The company reported an earnings loss of 23 cents per share, much better than the 69-cent-per-share loss analysts expected. And it indicates that Royal Caribbean will likely return to profitability this year.
After enduring coronavirus lockdowns, many people seem determined to travel this year despite higher prices. And when RCL finally gets out of the red later this year, I think the stock will spike again. Royal Caribbean has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.
Netflix (NFLX)
Streaming services company Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is having a great 2023 for a simple reason: the company is finally monetizing its customer base as it should have a long time ago.
As arguably the first streaming service company, Netflix for years gave a wink and a nod to customers who shared their login and passwords with friends and family living elsewhere.
It was how college students stayed on their parents’ accounts while in school, or siblings and friends found a way to cut a financial corner. Even after a failed relationship, ex-partners would share a Netflix account.
But no more. Or at least not for free. While you can still share your password with someone outside your household, Netflix is cracking down on the practice and will charge the account holder an extra $8 monthly for the privilege.
Will that break someone’s bank account? Probably not. But for Netflix, it’s a tremendous amount of revenue. The company estimates that 43% of its customers share passwords, which is about 100 million customers.
If even 10% of that number agrees to the $8 charge, Netflix will see nearly $1 billion a year in additional revenue.
NFLX stock is up 45% in 2023 and has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.
General Electric (GE)
For years, General Electric (NYSE:GE) was an old-school conglomerate with its fingers in many pies. But the stock performance wasn’t good; GE stock fell from nearly $360 in 2000 to just $40 in 2020, a drop of more than 88%.
It’s been working hard to turn around that legacy by selling off many businesses that weren’t working.
It shed much of its GE Capital business that suffered during the 2008 financial crisis; it sold its appliance business in 2016; it dumped NBCUniversal in 2013; and it divested itself from its stake in Baker Hughes (NYSE:BKR), the oil and gas company.
GE spun off its healthcare business, which is now GE HealthCare Technologies (NASDAQ:GEHC) and plans to spin off its power and renewables business as another company.
What’s left? A leaner, trimmer and more profitable GE focusing on aerospace, including jet engines and related products.
Investors appreciate the moves, as GE stock is back over $100 per share, up 66% on the year. Good times are back for GE, which has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.
Nordic American Tankers (NAT)
Bermuda-based Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) transports crude oil worldwide. Its 19 tankers have a cargo lifting capacity of 1 million barrels of oil each.
The business is exceptionally profitable. Nordic American says that the time charter equivalent rate for the first quarter was $51,900 per day, while the operating cost was only $8,000 per day. That helped push net profit for the first quarter to $46.9 million, with earnings at 22 cents per share.
“The seasonal slowdown seen so far in 2Q 2023 has already bottomed, at levels that in previous years would have been perceived as peak season earnings,” the company said in a statement. “This goes to illustrate that the scarcity of Suezmax tankers should secure a very interesting market for NAT going forward.”
NAT stock is a penny stock at just $3.50 per share. But with a dividend of 15 cents this quarter, the yield is more than 17%.
Nordic American is up 15% this year and has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS)
Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) is one of the best-known sports equipment retailers in the U.S. It has more than 850 stores that include its namesake brand and Golf Galaxy, Public Lands, Moosejaw, Going Going Gone and Warehouse Sale stores.
Earnings for the first quarter included revenue of $2.84 billion, up 5% from a year ago, and remain strong even in the face of challenges in the retail space. The company also recorded earnings per share of $3.40, better than the $3.21 that analysts expected.
The company also reaffirmed its full-year outlook for earnings per share between $12.90 and $13.80 and for comparable store sales to be as much as 2% better than a year ago.
DKS stock is up 13% this year and offers a dividend yield of 2%. It has an “A” rating in the Portfolio Grader.
On the date of publication, Louis Navellier had a long position in NVDA, NAT and DKS. Louis Navellier did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
The InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
